Joining Together: Wolverine's hunt
by Miximonkee
Summary: Wolverine has detected something foul moving about Xavier's Academy. His sense of ownership that has grown over the years pushes him to investigate. Rated T for light violence and light cursing... no major Fbombs, or anything :P.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey everybody, I'm Dr. Nick!

Okay, not really, but anyways…. I just wanted to let you all know that this is the first fic I've ever put online…So, yeah, whatever that means.

Let me know what you think, even if it's just "Hey, I read it, it sucked…write better!" Of course, constructive criticism is always exciting, and preferred! 

So, yeah, let me know your opinion, I will value it! Promise!

End Authors Note  
:P

:P

:P

As Wolverine Paced the halls of Xavier's Institute for gifted Students, he began to realize that the dark maple walls were beginning to close in on him again. Every few months, the pressures of being surrounded by teenage angst, and closed in spaces would render the x-man insane. The short man was frowning as he stalked into the kitchen, itching for nothing less than a cold beer, and finding none. He resigned himself, once again, to the idea that none of the other adults would allow any kind of alcohol to stay in any of the large refrigerators in the institute. He'd tried every one, and each time they had been returned to the Wolverine's small room, with a note attached that requested that they be kept where a student would not have access to them. There was no fridge in the wolverine's room, and he had no interest in drinking warm beer.

The man's frown only deepened as he left the kitchen. He knew in his gut that he had been at the institute too long, that his caged feelings would only get worse. There was nothing to interest him here. Not unless he wanted to play Daddy with all of the misguided mutants. Logan snorted at that thought, he was just as misguided as any of them. But he was, at least, misguided with a purpose.

It was time to go, he decided. Wolverine left the kitchen, and headed up to his room to grab his leather jacket. Everything else that he would need he already had on his Indian. There was no need for a goodbye, he never promised anyone he would stay, and nobody had ever asked where he went on his previous excursions. That was the way it worked for the past year. He made his way down a back set of stairs that exited nearer to the garage than the main staircase. Wolverine had just turned the corner that marked the end of the maple paneling and had his hand on the doorknob to the garage when he caught scent of something.

The man couldn't identify the smell, and it was almost as impossible to describe. At first he didn't know what to make of it, so he did what he usually did in such times. His claws crept out and his senses went on high alert. The smell reminded him of a musty cave.. but it had a sweeter tinge to it as well. Wolverine didn't like not knowing what this thing was. It made him uncomfortable to think that he couldn't even identify it as any species, man or beast. His heavy boots made minimal sound as he passed the staircase he had just descended, and headed towards the elevator that lead to the underground portions of the mansion. That was the "dead end" that faced the garage, and one of the only three entranceways to the x-lair. He hadn't smelled this strange thing until he got down the stairs, and it was getting stronger as he made his way down the hall. Whatever it was, he had it trapped. There was no escape for it, and he would find out what kind of thing could elude his distinction. He had it backed to the corner, he was close enough now that he could actually hear it breathe. Wolverine couldn't quite see it in the darkness, which frustrated him even more to think that his eyes were failing him. That's when he realized that his eyes weren't failing him. There was simply nothing there. He could still smell it, however, which is what prompted him to speak.

"I don't know who the Hell you think you are, Bub, but you've got a lot of nerve to come traipsing into this mansion without an invitation." When no response was given, the wolverine raised his claws up in plain sight, the light reflected off of them menacingly. "I'd suggest you show yourself, or I'll make it so you're seen." There was still no response, and Wolverine could still smell it. He'd given his warning, and he gave no extra quarter, or thought to what it might be as he slashed out in three waves towards the only space that the creature could be. The first two swipes caught nothing but air, but the third drew blood from what seemed to be nothing. And then it was gone, without a trace. Wolverine couldn't smell it, he couldn't see it, he didn't hear it move, but it was undeniably gone. He knew he had sliced it deeply, but there was no scent of blood other than the blood on his claw.

'Finally something to keep me busy,' he thought as his claws retracted and he went into the garage, straddled his bike, and left for a drink.

**Some time later** (because fanfiction hates my linebreaks…:P )

Wolverine did not like the idea of an unknown slinking around the halls of the mansion. He'd invested too much energy in that place, and the people there. He wasn't about to let something else try to destroy anything about the mansion, ideals or otherwise. There was no consideration towards telling the owner of the mansion. Wolverine assumed that the professor already knew, the old man always knew everything that went on, one way or another. The man was, however, excited about the prospect of a hunt.

It had been 2 months since he first encountered the thing, and so far all of his searching had turned up nothing more than a mere trace of the scent here or there, all more than several hours old. There was nothing that even the best tracker could follow. The best being Wolverine, of course. The only use that these trace findings held was that they kept Wolverine looking. He knew it was there somewhere, and he wanted to know what it was up to.

In the absence of a good sighting of the thing, Wolverine caught scent of several other oddities. Six to be exact, each of them a young woman. There were definite oddities about them, far beyond those of any other mutants he had encountered, and they weren't strange in a mutant way...well, not exactly. There was something different about them, and none of them seemed to be completely human. The girls' entrances to the mansion were staggered at different times. Nobody seemed to see a connection between the girls except for Wolverine. Or, at least, nobody seemed to be voicing their opinions on the matter, Wolverine included. They each enrolled in about the same class year, and they each began to attend classes, some of them shared a class or two.

One of the girls, the short black haired one, became increasingly attached to Wolverine, and that was bittersweet for the x-man. He hated the idea of having to allow the adolescent to cling to him, quite literally, and call him ludicrous things, but it was the only one that would get even that close to him. He wanted it close to him so that he could study it, and learn from it. Maybe that would give him some kind of clue as to what they were, and what they were doing at the institute…But tolerating Sakura, as she was called, didn't mean that Wolverine had to pretend to enjoy her attention. In fact, he made it clear that he utterly loathed her attention. Wolverine's focus, however, was always on what she was, and never quite on what she was doing. His eyes, ears, and nose were always trying to figure out what her connection was to the others.

It was only a mere matter of the day that three of the girls left, the black haired Lily, with the blue haired Jennifer and the blonde girl named Talya. They were evidently on a special mission with several other normal mutants. It had only been a few days since Lily had arrived at the mansion, and Logan took that as no coincidence that the day that Lily left the ever elusive thing would finally show itself. There was something going on here, and it seemed organized.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N So, the further I get in this fun little adventure of wolverineness, the more I become aware that I've totally fudged up some timetables…So maybe it's not RIGHT ON with Joining Together. Sorry, sorry Rhea! I just like skipping months, and weeks, and such. end 'A/N'

Wolverine was shocked when he first saw IT, or her as it could more properly be called now. At the time the little Sakura was clinging to his back. He had just finished calming himself after Sakura's most energetic attack, and had not expected another surprise; especially as he entered his haven, the mansion. Once he opened the door, the scent hit him like a sack of bricks. The ever vigilant Wolverine, for a moment, couldn't move. And there stood a young woman, talking to Professor Xavier. She didn't seem to even notice Wolverine. The scent of the elusive thing was emanating from this young woman. The shock gave Wolverine a moment to finally get a good look at what could potentially be his hunted adversary. Truth be told, she wasn't that tall, she just stood like she was. Her silvery hair was tied up on the top of her head in intricate folds. Her face was long, and her visible ear had a chip out of it, cut off at the very tip so that they were just under the length of a normal person's. The girl couldn't have been younger than 17, or older than 20. She wore simple clothes, a thigh-long maroon fitted shirt, with a thick belt over it, all over brown trousers with animal-skin boots. Although she was not remarkably tall, the girl had to bend, almost menacingly, to see the Professor eye to eye. She was clearly confrontational. Clearly looking for something. Asking about the very girl, Lily, who had left that day. That's when Wolverine saw it, as she stretched her left arm out to lean on Xavier's chair for more balance as she questioned him. A 3 inch scar widthwise, barely healed. He had found his prey.

Logan had completely forgotten that Sakura was on his back, so it brought him around to himself once the girl jumped off. "Thank you" was all that he could mutter under his breath, grateful that he had finally found what he was looking for. This was a huge part of the puzzle that plagued the mansion. He could finally start to piece together what that girl was up to.

The wolverine walked away as Sakura and Mara greeted Micki, confirming another suspicion of his. They knew each other.

**An undetermined amount of time later**

Wolverine had become careful about watching Micki; he knew where she was at nearly every moment of every day. His caution was not only in his assurances of the girl's movements, but in the concern of detection. He did not want her to know that she was being watched. Wolverine became very familiar with the girl, and her actions. She woke every morning at 5, dressed, and entered the bathroom for no more than 30 minutes. Emerged showered, and returned to her room for about another half hour. She would then make her way to the mansion's garden and spend an hour meditating. That was when her classes began. Wolverine was very confused by the fact that she was enrolled in only 3 classes. 3 classes are hardly enough for her to be called a student.

These classes were geography, history, and art. Not exactly a well rounded education. After her 3 classes, at about noon, she would head out into the garden again for lunch. And, after lunch, she would spend about 3 hours in the library studying various things. He also noted that for the first week that he watched her, she spent absolutely no time studying…but, after that week, she would spend hours on end in the library. Some evenings she wouldn't emerge until after nightfall. Once the girl finished in the library, she would go to her single room and spend the rest of the night in there. There almost no time for socialization, with the exception of class and lunch. She was a very solitary creature, not unlike the wolverine. The longer that Wolverine watched the girl, the more concerned he became about his suspicions. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about her. She never disappeared for long periods of time, in fact; she never even left the mansion unless completely necessary.

It took Wolverine quite a while to decide to search her room. And, once he did, nothing seemed to be any clearer. It was after the first week that he went into her room during her classes. It was a simple room, a single. It was rather small, no more than 12' by 20'. Like the rest of the mansion, it had maple molding all around the room, with pale beige above. There were sparse furnishings, only what the academy provided; a small oak-framed bed, a dresser, a small writer's desk, and a side table.

The bed was neatly made, and the only sign of clothing was two pairs of pants hanging in the closet, as well as two shirts. Wolverine checked briefly in the dresser, but there was only one drawer that had anything in it, and that was only underclothes. There wasn't even anything underneath the bed. There was but one sign that the room was occupied, one personal effect. It was a picture of the girl, Micki, looking the nearer to relaxed than Wolverine had ever seen her, as she leaned against the blue haired girl, 'Jen'. The picture had a simple background, only a brick wall that could have been anything, a traditional castle, a fence, or any number of things. Completely unremarkable, except that Wolverine couldn't identify what stone the fence was made out of; another curiosity about this different girl was uncovered. Wolverine felt that if he could figure her out, all of the other mysteries surrounding the other girls would fall into place. Although, Wolverine would still watch the others on occasion, just to be familiar with the other strange girls…But there was something about the girl who snuck around the mansion first that he couldn't trust. The others he understood at face value almost immediately, but this one was hiding something…something deeper than what the others were hiding.

Wolverine was careful to make sure that everything was as he found it before he left the small room. He did his best to make sure that there was absolutely no trace of his time in the room. He knew that Micki wouldn't be back in her room for quite a while, since class was still in session, so his smell should be gone by then. In any case, the scent is a concern only if she could smell well enough to detect it.

Wolverine left the room and returned to his own to think. He had a few hours before the girl's classes let out, and he fully intended to introduce himself as soon as she finished lunch. He was getting incredibly frustrated at his inability to figure out exactly what was going on. She was doing something, and he had a feeling she wasn't just trying to get to know the mansion. Everything pointed in another direction. She wasn't staking it out for Lily, who she seemed so persistent on finding when she met the professor, because Lily arrived later than she had come as that ever elusive 'thing'. If she thought that Lily was going to come, she would have made herself known immediately after finding that Lily wasn't there. She also wasn't fearful. She had no problem meeting other people, although she was closest to the others. There was something going on with those, but Wolverine thought he already had that mostly figured out…She was different, though. She was a true mystery…And Wolverine didn't like mysteries. He was going to find her out, and when he did…She would regret never coming forward in the first place.

Wolverine slammed his fist into the small writing table in his room.

"Why isn't this making any sense?" He growled at the now splintered wood. The man was usually very patient when it came to a hunt, but this was getting ridiculous. The girl left him absolutely no clues whatsoever. There were no odd occurrences at the mansion other than the arrival of the other girls, and the invisibility of the girl. As far as Wolverine was able to gather from his sleuthing, the others didn't know of any powers that Micki had other than her super strength. If she had no other powers, then why was Wolverine unable to see her when they first met? And how did she escape from him so easily in their fist encounter?

It just didn't add up.

As Wolverine thought, he looked up at the small analog clock he had on his desk. It was 1:20. Lunch was almost over. She usually spent it talking with the other unusual girls, and she rarely socialized with anyone outside of her little clique. The Xman stood up and made his way down the stairs towards the small courtyard that the students used as a picnic area on nice days. He stopped short of exiting the mansion, and observed through a window. It was a beautiful day, and he saw that she was beneath a tree.. She was just standing and talking with two other girls, the one called Jen, and the one called Mara…Then Jen, the blue haired short one from the photograph just ran off. They must be close, the xman thought. Wolverine didn't understand what made the other run off, but he saw that 'Mara' was still hanging from the tree. He watched carefully as the two exchanged words, Micki seemed vaguely upset and closed off to the monkey-like girl. But he could see that the monkey-girl wanted answers from Micki. It wasn't long before the silver haired woman took her leave of the monkey girl…And Wolverine would be waiting for her inside the institute when she came in. Micki was going to be a little late to the library on this day.

A/N Yay, special thanks to Jen and Rhea for their support and reviews! Luff you guys! End A/N


	3. Chapter 3 Micki's pov

A/N Okies, well, I wrote my next chapter :). Yay! Thanks to ShiNoMegami20 for her kindly plug in her awesome story! And to MercuryAngel1 for all of her support :) On with the chapters, I say! Oh, and it may be a little while before I can get 4 up, firstly because I'm on vacation, and secondly because I'm heading back to school soon after...But I'll try. I have a pretty solid idea of what I want to accomplish in the next chapter...Enjoy! Oh, and please do review, I appreciate what anyone, and everyone has to say. Even if it IS negative :D

There was a deep set frown on her face as Micki approached the mansion. There was something about Mara, the small green and pink haired girl that Micki just couldn't find it in her to like. But her conversation with Jen was certainly enlightening. She hadn't realized that Lily still had such intense emotional scars… It didn't matter to Micki, however, because she had faith in Lily. Micki had faith that Lily would be able to overcome her pain, and, with the others, make a concerted effort to overcome the opponents in this war. That was exactly why Micki wasn't overly concerned about the war. She knew that her friends could handle what was coming at them, even if Micki wasn't working at it 150 percent.

Her frown only deepened as she entered the mansion. Her mission was beginning to complicate itself. She always had the feeing that she was being watched, and she had an idea of who was doing the watching. She looked up as she saw the library door come into sight… She wasn't sure if she was prepared for what she had to do that day.

Micki was reaching out to open the door to the library when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She didn't have a chance to think about what happened next, and she didn't even have a time to let out a shout. The next thing she knew was being held against a wall by her neck, and her face was a mere inches away from another angry, dark skinned face. This all distracted her from the piercing pain in her mid back.

Micki was instantly afraid; she didn't know what to do. "Wha..."

"What are you doing here?"

Micki's eyes frantically scanned the face of Wolverine. She knew exactly what he was asking her about, but she was absolutely terrified of the look on the man's face. He looked more animal than human...and completely ready to kill. "I….I was going to the library, to study"

"That's not what I mean." There was a menacing tone in his voice. "Tell me why you're here." He didn't shout, but it was clear that Micki had better give him an answer that would satisfy him.

"I…I'm here with the others!" Micki's mind was going a mile a minute. She decided to tell the honest to goodness truth. "I came with a letter from. From a queen. She wants us to save Earth, there's a huge war going on…And, we, we…" She felt a fist against her stomach, and then she felt something sharp gently piercing her skin. "We're not from Earth! We aren't human!" Micki prayed that this would satisfy him. She didn't know what he was capable of; she knew he wasn't like the others. She knew that she couldn't hurt him, not even with her strength. She had seen him fight, and she knew that she didn't have much of a chance against him, not when he had this much of an advantage over her. She may have had a chance if she hadn't had her guard down in the beginning...but it was too late for that now. She also knew that it would completely blow her cover if she made her true abilities apparent.

Wolverine was clearly shocked; she could see it in his eyes. They were still narrowed against hers, but he was beginning to understand. Things were making sense to him, things were adding up. She felt the stinging in her stomach beginning to stop, and she let out a breath of relief, as Wolverine removed his fist.

"Please, let me go... I've told you everything" She asked, feeling as though she was going to be sick.

Her words had the opposite effect of what she wanted. Wolverine seemed to snap back to focus when she spoke. He actually raised his grip on her neck until she was standing on tip toe.

"You've told me nothing."

Micki felt him grab her left arm and back his face away. He twisted her arm forcefully and brought it to where she was looking at her own scarred forearm.

"Explain this one, kid!"

"I...I" Micki knew that he followed her around the mansion, so she thought of a response that he might believe. She took a breath to calm her panicked voice and responded. "I was in the garden, and I caught it on a gorse bush. It must have been three or four months ago. It's practically healed now." Micki focused everything on her breathing. She hadn't seen an opening for her to use her strength to break free from him. She had a feeling that if she tried to use it at all, she'd end up with a broken bone…and that was one thing that she couldn't afford at this point in time.

"The garden in the mansion?" His eyes were easing up a little, he didn't seem so angry, and Micki felt a surge of hope. Maybe this situation was salvageable.

She nodded. "Yes, right outside."

Suddenly he grinned, like a child who had just figured a complicated riddle. His smile reminded her of a jackal. "Three months ago, you weren't enrolled here."

Micki's eyes widened. There was no getting out of this one. She was doomed.

"We both know how you got this." He roughly shoved her arm in her face again. "And I want to know what you're trying to do to my academy. What are you doing slinking around here! I want answers. NOW!"

The pain in Micki's forearm gave her strength. Maybe if she could distract him a little, an opening would appear. She changed tactics immediately. "Let me go!" Micki had had enough. She found her strength, pulled her arm free, and grabbed his wrist around her neck. "I don't have to answer your questions. This is not a place where I came to be ostracized by some psychotic beast! That is not what this school, 'your' academy, is about, and I don't exactly see distrust as one of Xavier's cardinal values either!" She couldn't quite pull his arm off of her neck, but mostly because she didn't want to hurt him. She knew that if she did anything to hurt him, this situation would escalate further than she had any desire to see it go. It had gone far enough already. She didn't want any more connection between the two of them than they already had by her slit forearm. Her face was starting to turn red because her toes were getting tired. They were cramping from all the weight she had on them.

Micki suddenly realized that what she had just done was a mistake. It distracted him momentarily, as she had hoped, but his faced was suddenly enraged. If he saw her as a threat, she realized, he might not have any qualms against protecting the academy…by destroying her. She tried to stay calm as he prepared to speak again. She didn't know how many more lies and half truths she could tell.

Wolverine extended a claw, and raised it in the air. She felt the hairs on her arms raise as he growled at her. "Listen, I'm really starting to lose patience here... Tell me what you are doing sneaking around this-"

"Wolverine!" A masculine voice called out. "What are you doing?"

Wolverine's eyes went large, and Micki didn't think it was possible, but he was angrier than he was before. Wolverine didn't waste a moment to think, he just responded on impulse. "Student teacher conference." He said calmly; as he retracted his claw. "We're done now." He let go of Micki's neck, gave heri a last threatening glance and turned to walk out of the room, careful to knock shoulders with the other man as he left.

Micki collapsed against the dark wall and held her neck. She finally got a good look at the room that she had been dragged into. It was a small classroom. The pain in her back was caused by a chalkboard ledge. He had hit her hard against it, and she already knew that there was going to be a long bruise going widthwise across her back. Her throat hurt worse than her back, though. For a few minutes, his hand around her neck was all that supported her in a standing position. She breathed heavily for a few moments to make absolutely sure that he had not crushed her esophagus. That was much too close for her comfort

"Are you all right?" The masculine voice asked as it approached.

Micki looked up for the first time to get a look at who said that. It was the brunette second in command. "Mr. Summers? I'm fine...I just thought he was going to kill me…"

She watched him shake his head as he knelt down before her. "I don't mean to scare you, but he may have, given a lack of interruption. Logan is a loose canon, and can be incredibly hard to predict. Why did he attack you like that?"

Micki frowned, and hoped to look in deep thought. She hated to lie, but she did not have much of a choice. "I don't really know, I was just on my way to the library to study…I think he may be a bit paranoid. He kept accusing me of wanting to destroy the mansion, or something like that. I just, I don't understand." Micki looked up at Scott, clearly concerned. "This is a safe place for me, and I would never want to hurt anyone here. I don't know what's wrong with him..." Well, she didn't do much lying, at least…

Scott frowned. "Neither do I. I'm not sure if I'd be able to study after an attack like that from Wolverine. Please, let me help you to your room, Ms…?" Cyclops was very sympathetic towards the girl, being assaulted by Wolverine as he'd just seen was nothing trivial. However, he did wonder why Wolverine would do such a thing. Maybe there was an explanation... Cyclops would certainly have a talk with Wolverine about it later.

"Micheala, but I'm more commonly referred to as Micki." Micki couldn't help but let out a small smile. She appreciated Scott's empathy, but was slightly perturbed that he didn't have any qualms about siding with the student immediately. She dismissed this minor detail as teacher's intuition. "Thank you; I greatly appreciate your kindness." Micki ignored the ache in her back, the burning of her neck, and the sting in her stomach, and dusted herself off to stand. She had been hurt much worse than that in battle, and she fought her intuition, which told her to be overly dramatic. She then used the chalkboard ledge as an aide to stand. "But, I think I'll be fine."

If Micki could have followed Cyclops's gaze, she would have noticed him staring at the three vertical holes in her shirt, each surrounded by a small amount of blood. She had started to leave, but he gently stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Micheala, you need to see Jean about those cuts." He had concern written all over his face..And Micki believed that it was deeply etched into his eyes, as well, even though she couldn't see them through his tinted sunglasses. "Did Wolverine do that to you?" Scott already knew the answer, but he had to ask for verification.

Micki was inwardly glad that she had forgotten about the telltale mark that Wolverine had left. Since it was there, maybe it could be used against him. She briefly considered going to Professor Xavier and trying to have the Wolverine evicted from the grounds, but quickly realized that those efforts, even if they miraculously worked, would just push the man to stalk her even more. "Yes, but they're just scratches." She said, trying to downplay them. "I heal quickly, and if you don't mind, I'd rather not have them looked at. See, the bleeding's already stopped."

Scott was unhappy about letting that go, but he'd seen much worse go untreated professionally and do fine. "All right, but make sure you keep those cuts clean."

Micki nodded. "I think I'll be okay walking to my room, but thank you for the offer, just the same." The young woman did not want any extra attention drawn to herself by letting a professor walk her to her room. She wanted to remain as unnoticed as possible…and Wolverine certainly hadn't helped her there.

"All right, if you're sure. I need to have a talk with someone, so just make sure you're careful and take your time. You've suffered quite an ordeal here."

Micki nodded, and took her time leaving the room. Once she was out of sight, however, she relaxed her walking to a more normal pace.

Scott clenched his fist as he watched the girl leave. Wolverine had gone too far this time.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Well, here ya go! Chapter 4 in it's entirety...I can't exactly say that I'm in love with this chapter, it's not as well written as I'd hoped..but I haven't had much time to get into it with school'n all. And I did wanna get something up soon, so here it is :). I hope you enjoy, and any criticism/flames/happy thoughts are always welcome! Thank again to Mercury Angel, and Shi no megami for their wonderful, wonderful support! And also for Marauder Heir, I feel so loved D.**

**End A/N**

Immediately after his rough encounter with Micki, Wolverine left the mansion. He had always been pleased that the mansion was in a rural area, because that made it easier for him to disappear into the woods when he needed to vent his frustrations. And right now, there was a definite need for him to vent some of his anger. He barreled angrily through the woods, not even pushing tree limbs away from his face. The boughs only stung him for a moment, and then there was almost no trace, other than a drop or two of blood, that he had been so violently struck. He ran fast, and he ran hard. It did not matter to him where he went, only that he did go. Wolverine generally did his clearest thinking when he was pushing his body to the limit, which is why he reverted to such a primal state so often. Things were simpler when acted more like an animal, right and wrong were clear.

The X man thought as he ran. He really hadn't gotten what he wanted out of his encounter with Micki. He didn't want THE answer to his question (he would have been disappointed if he had), but he did want some clarifications. There was really only one useful piece of information that she gave him. It's true that he didn't know that she, and the "others" weren't actually from Earth, but that was a side issue. She gave that information up too easily for it to play too much of a factor. The true piece of information that she gave Wolverine was given when she slipped up with her timetables. It was such an amateur mistake, Wolverine was extremely shocked. He splashed heavily through a shallow stream, as he thought on. She clearly wasn't a huge threat, unless she meant to do that…Which Wolverine didn't believe. He could feel her fear, it was palpable…she had just slipped. This all just lead to one conclusion. The girl wasn't truly a danger to the school. She was amateur at what she was doing. Wolverine knew, based upon how amateur she clearly was that whatever she had been doing she did away from the mansion. With all the ways she had slipped up in their first encounter, and now in their second, there was no way she could sneak around the mansion without the Wolverine's knowledge. This is especially true since he had been on alert for her. And the only times when she would be able to sneak out without Wolverine's knowledge would be during her time in the Library, or her time alone in her room. Of course, all of this logic snapped through Wolverine's brain in a matter of a moment, almost instinctively. He focused his thoughts for the rest of the run on ways to catch her in the act of leaving.

When Wolverine finished his run, he found himself at the edge of a cliff. He frowned deeply. He had never been there before. It was a gorgeous scene, with a river flowing serenely below, and the forest continued below. If one looked hard, they could see that the forest continued a fair ways away in some rolling hills.

Wolverine had no interest in the view, he had seen more beautiful things and they hadn't touched him. He was tired, however. He had run for a good hour before stopping before the cliff. Wolverine sat down on the edge, and liked the feeling of dangling his legs hundreds of feet above the ground. He sat there for a good twenty more minutes, just relaxing after his comparatively short jog. He stood, and decided that even though Micki wasn't a threat, she was still worth the fun of figuring out. He then left to finish his run.

  

Wolverine found himself back at the mansion at about 5:30. He was covered with his own blood, dirt and sweat. He frowned and mounted the concrete stairs that lead to the entrance of the mansion. Judging by the look that Cyclops had on his face earlier, Wolverine guessed that it wouldn't be quiet on the way to his room. That was a perk to being Wolverine; he gets into fights very easily.

The rugged man made his way first to his room, then disrobed and put a towel around his waist. He then proceeded to grab his small shower kit and head out of the room. He was glad that the part of the mansion he stayed in didn't have many students nearby because he certainly didn't want anyone to see him in his state… Wolverine wondered why Xavier didn't invest in installing bathrooms in the professors' rooms. The guy was so filthy rich he could afford an underground base, so why not some extra master bedrooms around the old homestead? In any case, Wolverine walked down the hallway to the bathroom, and went about showering himself.

As he returned, clean and un-bloodied, he was unsurprised to see Scott was waiting for him outside of his room. Of course the redhead knew that the rugged man had returned, he was only a few doors down from Wolverine. The shorter man still hadn't forgiven the professor for putting him so close to the pair; it ate him up every time he thought of Jean being so close to Scott.

"Logan." Scott's voice was icy.

Wolverine didn't respond, he just pushed past Scott and into his room, closing the door heavily behind him.

Scott didn't move from outside of Wolverine's room, he just yelled through the door. "Don't avoid me, now. You went too far by accosting a student."

Wolverine opened the door, now clad only in a pair of old blue jeans. "I didn't accost her, only interrogated."

"By holding her off the ground? You can't do that with our students, Logan. They are looking for a safe place here, not to be "interrogated" by some half-crazed wild beast!"

Wolverine was exhausted, and didn't feel much like putting Scott in his place, or really arguing too much longer. "Are my feeling supposed to be hurt by this? Maybe we should go do what you tell all the little kiddies to do, and ask the Professor to mediate this, whaddya think Mr. Summers?" Wolverine, in the absence of extreme anger, resorted to sarcasm.

"Maybe I SHOULD talk to the Professor, I really don't think you're safe around the students if you're going to be throwing them into walls and leaving them crying!"

"And I guess this is where I'm supposed to be feeling guilty, then. Lemme tell you something, buddy, Wolverine doesn't tend to respond to your talks the way some of your adolescent friends do. Go ask Chuck, he has a much better idea of what goes on here than you do, even though he's gone half the time."

"I will talk to him, and just remember I'm watching you, Logan." Scott turned his back on Wolverine and walked away.

Wolverine just closed the door. He usually didn't have the patience for that kind of banter…but today he was too tired to piss Scott off; He had bigger fish to fry. He turned around and immediately recognized a strange odor in the room. Regardless of exhaustion his senses were still in tune, he could still smell when people had been in his room without his permission. The scent was there, but it mingled. It had been there at least an hour. She had been here. Wolverine looked throughout the room for what had been moved. He had even fewer possessions than the girl had, so it took him next to no time to see that everything had been placed exactly back where he had left it, right down to the crumpled pair of jeans that he had thrown down a few days earlier. He lifted the pair up and sniffed them. She had just checked the pockets and put them back, in the exact way she had found them. Wolverine was surprised by the fact that she had left her scent so clear, it was almost so strong as to be obnoxious.

The man became enraged at the idea of what the girl had done. It was clear in his mind that she was doing this just to anger him. As far as he was concerned, this provocation would not go unchecked; He would see to it that she would be revealed. Wolverine was going to know what she was doing, and he was going to know within the week. Wolverine decided that the time had come to up the anti. He was going to know what was going on, at least within the next two weeks. The Wolverine pulled some clothes on and left the room. He was tired, and ready to get something from the kitchen. Maybe while he was eating he could consider further what he was going to do about "that girl."

The man stalked down the hall; oblivious to the students he passed. To most of Xavier's students, this kind of action come from their 'art' teacher was fairly normal. The students did their best to stay out of his way, and just carried on about their business. All of them, except for one.

"Wolverine?" the student was almost pleading for his attention, and he didn't respond.

"Wolverine!"

Wolverine wasn't in the mood to talk; he continued down the hall and ignored the voice. "LOGAN!"

Wolverine was halfway down the stairs when he felt a hand on his shoulder, the xman was so wound up that he allowed himself to slip back into old habits. His fist went behind him and knocked the offending person heavily back down on the stairs. He heard a feminine grunt of pain and turned to look, suddenly aware of his actions.

"Kid!" Wolverine's eyes went wide as he realized what he'd done. She had pulled herself up to a sitting position, and was coughing heavily. Good thing the girl was tough, and had fallen just right; otherwise she might have broken something, or had a concussion. He dropped his knee down on the stair beside her, and grabbed her shoulders, careful not to touch her skin.

"Rogue, are you allright?" He was quick to try and cover his feeling of guilt, very aware of the students watching. But that didn't stop the girl from seeing it in his eyes, even through her brown and white hair.

It took her a moment to regain control of herself; he had just hit her in the diaphragm and knocked the wind out of her. "I'm, I'm fine!" Her southern accent was clear, even through her coughing. She looked at him her watering eyes emanating strength.

Wolverine felt an even deeper pang of guilt, which he didn't think was possible. She wasn't crying, was she? He was extremely relieved when he realized that her eyes were just watering from all the coughing she did, and she wasn't emotionally too upset…yet.

Wolverine looked quickly up at the other kids, trying hard, again to mask his guilt. "What are you all lookin' at! Get to where you're going, already!" He suppressed the urge to bare his claws at them, he'd hurt enough students this day to risk getting kicked out, and he definitely didn't want to try Chuck's patience that much. The kids were quick to move once they'd heard the tone in his voice.

He looked back at Rogue again, "Look, kid..."He started, but she interrupted before he could finish.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't 'of grabbed you like that. I was just angry…" She wiped the water out of her eyes, and stood up. "I'll go now." Rogue took a step onto the stair down past Wolverine, who quickly rose as well.

"No, wait," Wolverine said quickly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you." Wolverine didn't like the feel of apologizing, so he quickly changed the subject. "Look…ya hungry?"

Rogue was taken aback by Logan's offer, but more so by the apology. The man didn't apologize. Period. "Well, yeah…But I'm supposed to go meet Lily and Jen…We're gonna go'n eat together…"

"I'm sure they'll be fine for a night." He had made an offer, and he wouldn't back down. It just wasn't the man's way.

Rogue finally consented, and the two headed down the stairs to the garage, down past the very place were Wolverine first came in contact with Micheala. He opened the door and stepped out into the oil-smelling area. He walked calmly past a wall of various tools and safety gear.

Rogue realized the wall that they'd just passed, and looked at Logan funny "Won't we need helmets?"

Wolverine pulled himself into his red doorless jeep and looked back at her, the same look on his face. "If you really want one, but I'd like to think that tree's aren't going to fall in our way this time."

Rogue smiled, thinking back to when they first met, and pulled her into the passenger seat. She latched her seatbelt. "As long as you buckle up this time, I don't think we'll need them."

Wolverine pushed the garage door opener and started the car. He shrugged off the need to put on his seatbelt. "Didn't do much harm last time."

Rogue rolled her eyes, "And I'm sure that your old truck feels the same way…" She felt the dashboard of the jeep fondly. "I always though you drove a motorcycle..."

Wolverine nodded as they drove off. "I do."

"So... this isn't yours? Before, you just had that truck and your bike. How can you afford this new jeep, and that new motorcycle?"

Wolverine raised an eyebrow at her, and remembered just how talkative she could be. "I live in a mansion. You do the math."

Rogue nodded, and leaned back in her seat. She had missed spending time with her favorite member of the x men.

As they drove, Wolverine tried to figure out exactly where they were going to eat. Most of the places that he went to weren't suitable for such a young girl to go into… The only place that Wolverine could think of that wasn't a chain restaurant was a local diner. Besides, the man wasn't exactly dressed appropriately for a sit down restaurant.

It was going on 7o'clock and twenty minutes from when they left when Wolverine and Rogue arrived at the Double T diner. The two entered the bright environment and seated themselves.

It was a fairly clean establishment, with chrome fixtures, and nostalgic jukeboxes at each seat, which was covered with red vinyl. Wolverine always felt comfortable coming into a diner, something about it just felt normal to him... It was as though the diners were timeless.

It wasn't long before a waitress made her way over. "Hey, Hon's, sorry it took so long, we're having a bit of a busy night." The woman wore a pink 50's style A-line skirt with a white apron. She had a nametag that read "Maggy" and looked to be about 35. Her hair was down to her shoulders, brown, and in a ponytail. She had warm blue eyes, which she allowed to hover over Wolverine…who took no notice of the woman's interest. He was more interested in the fact that their busy night included 3 other patrons.

"Anything I can getcha to drink?" She asked with a smile.

Rogue spoke up first "Just a coke would be nice..."

Wolverine frowned when he remembered that diners didn't serve beer…He could use a cold one "Water for me."

Maggy scribbled their order down on a piece of paper, "I'll be back in just a minute with your drinks." She walked off.

Wolverine disappeared into his own thoughts again. He really couldn't focus on much besides what on Earth that girl was doing with his mansion…

Rogue leafed through the small menu…Which really meant she turned the placemat over.

"Hmm, All-American food, I see." Rogue mused, "It's been a while since I've eaten anything with this much grease…"

Wolverine looked up at her. "That gonna be a problem?"

Rogue shook her head. "Really, anything sounds good about now. I'm so hungry" Rogue smiled. "It's been crazy lately."

"What do you mean, 'crazy'?"

"Well, I dunno. You've been so distant….I just dunno, you've been sort of…Well, I don't know. Not here. I've missed you."

Wolverine looked at Rogue funny, emotions weren't quite his department…and as much as he'd like to comfort the girl, it just wasn't his thing. "I've been busy."

Rogue shook her head, clearly unhappy with his response. "With what? This isn't right, Logan! You've isolated everyone! You just haven't been the same since…Since!"

Wolverine was downright shocked by Rogue's emotional outburst. This didn't make sense, he always felt a sort of closeness to the girl, but he had never exactly buddied up with anyone at the mansion. Isolated them? They'd been isolated since the beginning. Wolverine began to draw conclusions. "Since when?"

Rogue frowned, she was feeling really angry. "Well, really, since Lily came here!"

Her outburst caught his attention. She was referring to one of the "others", in fact, the one that escalated the actions of all of them. She was the hub of the other's stay there, and their actions. But, then he realized something. She was definitely projecting her anger at someone else on him. He would have to make his next statement as gentle as possible. "You and freeze-boy having issues?" Well, gentle for him, at least.

Rogue threw her head on her arms. "Gawd, is THAT obvious!"

Wolverine shrugged. "Call me Sherlock. What Happened?"

"Well, HE's not the same anymore! Ever since they came back, he's been distant ALL the time. I'm so angry at him! He's still treating me the same, but IT's not the same!"

Wolverine didn't like where the conversation was headed, and he found that he was already in way over his head, Teenage angst was not his thing. "Why are you talking to me about this, Rogue? I ain't exactly a therapist."

"Well, you know." Rogue was having issues articulating herself, so she lifted her head to look at Wolverine, and sat on her hands. "I thought you'd understand. It's…It's not Bobby's fault…as much as I want it to be…Well, you see Colossus…He's been here...and...Well, I don't know." Rogue pulled a hand out and put her head on it, clearly distressed.

Wolverine was not interested in continuing this conversation any longer. Sure, he liked the kid, but he didn't want to know anything about any guys dating her, much less a teenaged love triangle drama. "And what makes you think I'll understand anything about this?"

Rogue looked up again. "Well, you know. I thought, with your relationship with…you know…You might understand, and give me advice?"

Wolverine's face went blank. He suddenly understood exactly what Rogue was referring to. It cut him to the core. He knew that his feelings were obvious to Jean, but to everyone else? That was not what he wanted. And the kid was relating her teenage angst to his relationship? Wolverine suddenly became angry, by instinct. Luckily, however, the waitress arrived just in time to keep Wolverine from doing anything rash.

"Hey, Hon's, I've got your drinks. One Coke" She set it before a very stricken looking Rogue, who had seen Wolverine's face. "And one water. Ya'll know what you wanna eat?"

Marie looked up, unhappily. "I'll just have the American…"

Wolverine regained control of himself. "I'll have the same."

For the rest of the meal, Rogue was rather sheepish, and for once, Wolverine tried to start some conversations. One thing that Rogue could do without any effort was make Wolverine feel guilty, and no matter what he did, this pang wouldn't go away.

When the two arrived back at the mansion, Wolverine looked over at Rogue.

"Look, Marie." He surprised her; he almost never used her real name. "I ain't a therapist, and I'm not going to say some clichéd thing about how you should follow your heart. But, I'll tell you what I think will be good for you. I think you oughtta stick with Bobby. Just try to, okay?" The Wolverine quickly exited the vehicle, feeling very uncomfortable. Saying that took a lot out of him, and stirred up emotions that had been festering for a while. In any case, he left feeling much unhappier than when he started.

He left behind a very shocked and stricken Rogue. He had not given her the answer she expected, or hoped for…


	5. Chapter 5

**So, yeah, thanks to everyone for their nice comments! Remember, I 3 them so much! **

**Yay for Marauder Heir, Shinomegami20, and Mercury Angel! oh yeah, and I fixed it cause I forgot some stuff... ...**

**And don't be afraid to criticize, I can take it, and if I can't...I play rugby, so I'll just forget about it the next time I get a concussion :D.**

**End A/N**

Wolverine had been extremely ardent about following Micki. She no longer took the same path everyday and her choice of routes fell into no particular pattern. There was no way Wolverine could ever be sure to surprise her again…The only routine that she still followed was her time in the library, and the same early room-time. Wolverine spent a few days following her carefully, and waiting outside for her to leave the library through one of the open windows, but nothing ever came of it. He suspected before that she left the mansion, and the only time she could do it was in her hours of library time…but she never exited through a door, or a window. He didn't understand how she could have exited without his knowledge; he never made himself obvious, and was always well hidden. There was no way that she could had detected him every time, and avoided doing anything suspicious because of him. Even less believable was the theory that she simply no longer left the mansion...Wolverine couldn't imagine anyone from another planet simply confinining themselves to this small mansion, when there was literally an entire world to explore. That was simply unbelievable, unlikely, and extremely improbable.

Wolverine became exhausted waiting for her to leave, and finally made his way discretely into the library to see exactly what she was doing. The library was always an incredible sight to new students. With its 30' ceiling, and rows upon rows of shelving, some of which went clear up into a second level, that acted, as well as looked like, more as a catwalk than an actual floor level. Everything was made to look natural, but with a stark contrast between the darkly stained oak wood tables, chairs, shelving and molding, against the light tan walls. There was also a clear contrast between the natural beauty of the wood, as well as the books, with the contemporary look of the computer area, which was mostly furnished with metallic furniture, as well as a nice sampling of various computers. The professor believed in variety, as was evidenced by the computer brands. He had the major ones covered there. There was Dell, Hewlett Packard, Macintosh, Gateway, as well as many others; they even had a fair share of different colors. He had the different major operating systems of Macintosh, and Windows, but also some lesser known ones as well; the only two off-brands that the Wolverine recognized were Linux and UNIX (he was surprised at himself for knowing this). It was clear that the Professor believed in individuality. The place, as it was considered since it was much too large to simply be a room, was quite a lot to take in. Wolverine, a man who had never actually entered the library before, could express his thoughts in one word.

"Classy"

Logan was soon pulled back to the living world by the smell of that girl. He could tell that she had gone immediately to the right when she entered, so he did the opposite. He made his way the long way around the extensive library to where she was. He had to find her via process of elimination, since he didn't follow her exact path. He had checked all of the catalogues, each aisle, the upstairs level, and finally around to the double row of 36 computers that Xavier kept around; she was sitting at one of these computers. Wolverine was careful to keep himself concealed from her sight by standing behind a bookshelf as he slowly removed several books to have a good vantage point of the girl. Because the girl was facing his direction, Wolverine caught a clean sight of her face, and was shocked.

'The kid has reading glasses!' he thought in his amazement. The pair of glasses actually looked like bifocals. There was only one difference that Wolverine could see, quite clearly, from where he was standing. They weren't magnifying what she saw, but diminishing it, which Wolverine thought that to be rather interesting.

The girl was so focused on the screen that she hadn't noticed Wolverine, but the X-man didn't want to take his chances... He took a mental note of which computer she was on and left the lavish library.

Wolverine waited for his chance to re-enter, but he knew it would not come anytime soon. She usually stayed in the library until late evening. The X-man made himself at home on one of the decorative chairs that are scattered about the hallways. He was close enough to the library to see her come and go, but he was down a curve, opposite of the direction she would go in, or at least he hoped she would go in. In any case it didn't matter if she saw him this time; they both knew that he was following her.

The Wolverine detested that he had to hunt in the building where he lived, but there was no avoiding that. He decidedly hated it even more when the students started giving him strange looks after noticing how long he'd been out in the hallway. Wolverine's glare fended off any potential questions, and fewer students walked the hallway that lead to the library.

Micki was fairly cautious when she exited, Wolverine noted. It was three hours after he had initially followed her into the library. She looked both ways, and exited the library quickly. Wolverine waited two minutes after her departure to make his way back in the library.

He wasted no time, or pretense of subtlety in making his way to the computer. The man didn't know much about the technological aspects of these machines, but he did know some basic things. He opened a search page, and tried to scroll down through the search bar to see what Micki had been looking for, but nothing came up. Certainly other students had used the computer, too? Why would there be simply nothing? It dawned on Logan that she had cleared the history. That's where his knowledge of computer hacking halted. There were a few more things he thought to do. He went through all of the word files, and found nothing of interest. Nothing that he thought could have been related to what he thought Micki might be doing.

The man left the library, angry that she had already thought ahead of him. She knew that he would be following her, and took according action. That frustrated Wolverine, he had assumed that she was just an amateur, but she was able to thwart his efforts in one area.

Wolverine made his way up the stairs. He was going to head up to her room and ask her a few more questions, but this time a bit more nicely. He repressed his urge to allow his claws out. He had a feeling that she wasn't going to crack under his pressure again, so he knew it would be wasted effort if he even tried to take a violent approach. The X-man glanced out the window on his way up to her room, and had to do a double take. Had he just seen what he thought he saw? He wasn't sure, but only because he wasn't exactly confident that he had seen anything. It seemed like a movement of a shadow. But, it wasn't a flicker; it was more of a fluid movement. Wolverine suddenly remembered her ability to make herself unseen, and smiled. She wasn't up and in her room, after all. The man made his way out of the mansion at a full run, but he calmed once he was outside. He couldn't move too fast, or she would realize she was being followed. The man couldn't see her, but he could certainly smell her. Wolverine followed her scent for quite some time.

It was nearly 5 am when Micki and Wolverine returned. Wolverine made sure that he was not seen, and his efforts paid off. He learned much from her, her movements, her actions… Wolverine looked down into his had at the 2 inch glass cylinder in his hand. He barely had a vague idea of what it could be for, but he knew who to ask to find out what it really was meant to do.

Wolverine made his way up to his room and sat down on the edge of his bed. He had to make sure that his nighttime excursion was completely committed to memory before he left to visit Chuck's science buddy. He went over what he had learned and made a mental list of the important parts. He remembered following her to many different places. First, she made her way to the hospital, and then a large number of private residences. The residences weren't in any obvious order, and they weren't all in any one class. They ranged from small, subsidized housing, to large mansions that paralleled the academy. They went all over New York, and even into sections of New Jersey. Wolverine was glad that he could be resourceful, as the girl would hitch rides on anything that moved, including the back of cars, buses, and she even snuck onto the metro.

He was interested, however, in the fact that they never went anyplace that was uninhabited. She was doing something with people, and not just basic humans, she clearly went after mutants as well…. There weren't any age restrictions, either, as she went to the nursery in the hospital. As he followed her, he noticed that the invisible girl would leave in her wake a person, sometimes a group of people who suddenly took a great interest in some part of her body…as though she had pricked them. It wasn't until she dropped the cylinder that Wolverine began to piece it together. She was injecting them with something… Wolverine would have tackled her then and there to stop her from spreading some kind of infectious disease, but she intrigued him. He couldn't prove yet that she was harming those people, so he held his suspicions at bay until he could get this glass thing examined by someone who knew what they were doing.

Wolverine looked down at the cylinder, tempted to push the button on the back. He held his curiosity at bay; he didn't know what the thing would do… The X-man stood and made his way to the garage to get his motorcycle started. He wanted to make a quick exit before any of the other teachers would miss him…he had to get to Chuck's friend fast... Wolverine then rethought his use of the motorcycle…DC was a good 9 hour drive from the mansion. He then grinned when he remembered what vehicles he had at his disposal. He made his way down to the underground base, along with his Indian, to make use of one of Xavier's smaller jets…Good thing they had some cargo space for the motorcycle…

"Antoine de Sainte-Exupery once said 'he who would travel happily must travel light', and I see that such is the same for you, my friend.' The blue hairy man said to what seemed to be no one in particular. The beast-like man was hanging from the ceiling by a foot, he seemed to be reading some document, but Wolverine couldn't quite read the title page. He did see, however, that someone thought it important enough to put a plastic cover on it. The blue man turned a page, and waited a moment before freeing his feet of their stronghold and landing right side up gracefully. "You've come along way, and I've heard a lot about you… Mr. Logan, isn't it?"

Wolverine allowed himself to be seen, finally. He had an angry look on his face; he meant to be the one doing the surprising. "How do you know my name?"

"The same way you probably know mine, my good friend. Professor Xavier has told me all about you." Dr. McCoy made a sweeping gesture meant to welcome Wolverine into his office. "So, Mr. Logan, what brings you down to this fine province?"

Wolverine wasn't quite sure how to react. He wasn't use to being found out when he didn't want to be. However, he did have some level of trust in Professor Xavier, and he decided to let this information exchange slide for now. "We've got a bit of a pest control problem up at the mansion." There was more of a guttural sound to his voice than usual, which slipped despite Wolverine's best efforts. He was very frustrated.

"Oh yes? Interesting. I didn't realize that I was qualified to assist in any kind of rodent control…" Beast sensed some innuendo, but he knew how violent this man could be, and did not want to take part in any barbaric killing.

"Well, our 'rodents' tend to leave some interesting gifts. I was wondering if you could have a look at it, do whatever you scientists do with this stuff." Wolverine made his way closer to the doctor, pulled the glass cylinder out of his pocket, and handed it over to Beast, who held it up in the light.

"Fascinating!" The doctor said, with genuine interest. "This doesn't seem to be glass, exactly…or at least, it's a bit to pliant to be." He was squeezing it gently. "And yet, it's too stiff to be plastic…I wonder what it could be." He looked up at Wolverine. "I can have it analyzed in a few days, if you'd like. Do you have any idea where it came from? That could point me in the direction of what kinds of materials, in specific, to test for..."

Wolverine just frowned. "I'm guessing it's from somewhere farther than I'd like to admit."

Hank McCoy gave Logan a cryptic look. "Ah."

Wolverine hated having to ask a scientist for help, and now that he knew that he was going to get what he wanted, he saw no point in staying. "I'll be back on Wednesday."

Beast let out a half hearted goodbye. He was much more interested in the new puzzle he had to figure out.

Wolverine made his way out the same way he came in and returned to the jet on his motorcycle… There was one thing out of the way. His spirits rose now that he knew he was going to get some kind of answer. He had just unlocked another vital piece to the puzzle that girl dropped in his lap…


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Oooh, new chapter! I felt so inspired by Lily's new chapter, that I had to write my own….Actually, I was even more inspired by chapters in Lily's story that I stole direct quotes from some of them! So that's why some of these scenes may seem a tad bit familiar….It felt good to be lazy. Ooh, so yeah, Thanks to Lily, and Jen, and Sam-chan for reviewing! And super thanks to HBear for reading it…..So, hmm, wondering how long this story is going to be? I think it's looking like somewhere between 10-12 chapters, so we're officially over halfway there! Yay!**

**Sooooo, please do read and review! BE BRUTAL! I CAN TAKE IT! Even little grammatical errors are worth it. Nyah :D **

**End A/N**

**A/N 2: Yeah, so, I fixed it! Thanks ShiNoMegami20 for pointing that out, I feel much better now . Woohoo for Amara, and not Mara! Silly monkey girls belong not in this chapter!**

**More reviews, please???**

**End A/N**

Wolverine was in genuinely high spirits the day after he visited Hank McCoy, and honestly felt that nothing short of an attack by Sabretooth could bring him down. He paced the halls more aggressively than ever, and was filled with a happiness that he hadn't felt in a long time. He hardly noticed that he paced the corridors alone, as all the students were in class. He'd never been so happy to have a prey cornered, usually it was just expected that he would win, but this time, in this hunt, something was different. She was a bit of a challenge for him, not his greatest challenge, but just enough to make the hunt fun. He mulled that thought over for a minute. Since when did the Wolverine partake in anything close to being 'fun'? In any case, Logan felt ready to tell the Professor his thoughts. He didn't actually want to make it clear that she was a threat, but he wanted the man to know that there was something different about this one girl. He was sure that the Professor would know that Micheala, along with all the others were not of this planet already, but he wanted the Professor to know that one of these girls had an ulterior motive to their ulterior motives. Wolverine shook his head at that thought, his fists shoved in his pockets.

He was on his way to see the Professor…If Wolverine remembered correctly from his initial visit to the mansion, the Calculus class was over five minutes ago. Wolverine watched as Cyclops exited the man's office. He grinned.

"Hey, Slim." The nickname was an old one, and it had no menace in it.

Scott was shocked by Wolverine's lack of animosity. He actually stepped back, and it took him a moment to restructure his thoughts. "Logan, The Professor was just asking for you."

Wolverine nodded, walked past a puzzled Scott, and entered Xavier's top-notch office. Wolverine could vaguely remember living in rooms less than a fifth the size of the man's office, and their worth was nowhere near comparable to the value of the lavish office. There were floor-to-ceiling windows with white frames, and dark drapes that were pushed to either side of the windows. The late morning light streamed in, and shone on The Professor, in his green suit. Each wall was covered in shelves with copious amounts of books. Wolverine could see that in front of one set of shelving a short chalkboard had been set up, and he knew, from prior visits, that there was a flat screen tv mounted on the wall next to the door. The professor chose to use a darkly stained pine for the flooring, but it was mostly covered by a deep green area carpet. The shelving units were stained to match, but the desk was a deep red cherry wood, which stood in dark contrast to the other wooden elements of the room. The walls were painted a muted maroon. The color made Wolverine uneasy. Logan closed the door behind him and stepped into Professor Xavier's office.

"Wolverine, I'm glad you came to see me, I was just about to call for you." The Professor was sitting behind his desk going over some paperwork. "I see that you're in high spirits" The bald man hadn't even looked up from his papers.

Wolverine didn't respond to Chuck's reference to his emotions. "Cyke said you were lookin' for me. I was actually looking for you, myself." Wolverine saw no point in delaying his point. "I've got something to tell you about one of the new students, the gray-haired one"

The professor nodded and looked up at Wolverine for the first time, his blue eyes as piercing as ever. "Yes, Micheala, she's actually part of the reason that I was going to call you in here, today." The Professor closed placed his paperwork back into a manilla folder and closed it. Wolverine couldn't see what the tab was labeled, and he frowned.

Cyclops had just left the office, and now Chuck wants to talk to him about the girl? Wolverine didn't like the idea that the preceding chain of events was not a coincidence; especially considering he had a feeling that it wasn't.

"Yeah, what about her?" Wolverine felt anger starting to rise within him. Once he got his hands on that one-eyed pretty boy, he'd---

"I've got a mission for the two of you. Well, technically the three of you."

--not tear him to shreds?

Wolverine relaxed visibly as he thought over the possibilities of a mission with that girl. The thing's he'd learn….

"Yeah? What mission is that?"

"There's a young man out in the jungles of the Amazon. He's frustrated, and alone. I can feel him." The professor raised a hand to his forehead, as if reaching out for the boy with his mind again. "He's seeking revenge, and I can feel anger within him. He needs help." Xavier raised his head, and let his hand fall. "I'm asking you, Micheala, and Amara to take the Blackbird, locate him, and bring him back to us."

Wolverine couldn't believe his ears! Good ole' Chuck was sending him out on a humanitarian mission…That wasn't exactly Wolverine's forte. "This kid a mutant?"

The Professor nodded and folded his hands in his lap after pivoting his chair away from his desk. "He possesses the ability to travel at incredible speeds. I believe that he calls himself Quicksilver."

Wolverine had mixed feelings about the mission, and what might transpire… but who was he to say no to such a good benefactor? "We'll do it." Wolverine turned and opened the door to the room, glad that he hadn't sat down. Xavier voiced a request as he left.

"Wolverine, do give the girls the option not to go."

Wolverine shrugged it off and shut the door behind him.

**:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D**

It wasn't hard for Wolverine to locate the quiet girl codenamed Magma. He found her, and it didn't take much effort to convince her that she would be an asset to the mission…In fact all he had to do was mission that Xavier suggested the mission, and she was on board. He gave her the meeting time and place and went on his way.

Locating Micki, on the other hand, was more complicated. It was during her class hours, and yet she wasn't in any of them. Luckily, the Xman ran across Lily in the hallway between her classes. There is something to be said about psychics, Wolverine admitted; the girl knew exactly where Micki was.

Wolverine exited the building, and made his way into the lavish gardens. He grinned at the irony as he pulled a cigar out of his back pocket, and stuck it between his back molars. He gave it a few good bites until he had the cigar tightly in place, and grinned again. Man, time to officially meet the girl; and this was the exact place where he was when he first saw her. He stepped through the beautifully blooming bushes of various flowers, and looked at the girl mindlessly wandering the gardens in a state of elation. He almost felt bad for popping her bubble…almost.

"You're Micheala right?" He asked, a harsh tone in his voice. She nodded in response and continued walking in that ethereal state. Surely she hadn't forgotten about him? He slammed her into a wall, she couldn't have forgotten already! Wolverine decided that it was time to snap her back reality. "Who sent you to find Lily and her friends?"

She didn't even start at that, Wolverine hoped that it had it's impact, even though she didn't respond. He didn't want to think that she wasn't affected by his presence anymore.

"I'm sorry. That information is confidential." She wasn't much into words toda, it seemed.

Logan wanted to press her, and ask who had access to that information, but instead only shrugged. "If you say so. I'd usually try and get an answer I really want, but you don't seem like the type to break easily." He knew that through experience. The girl nodded in response.

"Glad you established that."

Wolverine grinned. He wasn't used to this kind of conversation. "So, what are your powers?"

"Strength."

Wolverine took a step forward, he wanted her to feel threatened. Her lack of intimidation bothered him. "Really? So how strong are you then?"

She finally looked up at him, but she didn't seem threatened at all. She seemed peaceful, she looked him in the eye and shrugged. "Never tested. Never really mattered to me as long as I was strong enough."

He frowned. "Strong enough for what?

She was still looking at him, her jade green eyes still looked peaceful, but he saw a glint of pain, almost of failure. Something about her reminded him of the orient, of time he had spent there… "To protect my friends" He could feel the honesty in her words… and became frustrated at the feelings of guilt that welled up in him, guilt for reasons that he couldn't remember…He wanted to ask her if wandering around behind their backs when they were depending on her for whatever mission from outer space they had dug themselves into was protecting them, but he merely fulfilled Xavier's request.

"Chuck wants you to join me on a mission to find a mutant named Pietro."

She actually looked relieved at the change of conversation topic, almost as relieved as he felt. "Who else is going?"

Wolverine smiled, she DID feel intimidated. She didn't want to go alone with him. "You, me, and Amara."

She looked thoughtful, Wolverine guessed that she enjoyed that strange girls presence about as much as he did… But she finally answered. "Okay, I'll go."

Wolverine nodded with a vague grin on his face. "Good, meet down by the Blackbird in an hour, we'll suit up, and head out in no more than an hour and and fifteen minutes." He turned and walked back into the building, knowing full well that the girl knew exactly where the Blackbird was. Man, no wonder Cyke was always so happy about being the leader, it felt good to be in charge.

**:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D**

She was late. Wolverine couldn't believe it… She had only 10 minutes until they were supposed to leave. What the Hell was she doing that could interrupt a mission from Chuck? He frowned, should he have followed her? Was she out on one of her own missions again? He cursed that he didn't follow her this time. He looked over at the brown haired girl who didn't return his gaze as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

"She'll come" Amara didn't know the girl who was accompanying them on the mission personally, but she had heard things. She was one of the girls who spent so much time with Lily…She had faith in Lily's friends, they delivered her from Emma Frost into the academy.

Wolverine looked over at the girl who had no connection to Micki whatsoever. "Yeah?"

She looked up at him and nodded.

Wolverine shook his head, he didn't have the same faith.

The girl looked down at her uniform, and picked at a few faint pieces of dust. She seemed to enjoy wearing her uniform, it was simple. It was made out of black leather, and had an X on the belt. The symbol was meant to act as a communicator and tracking device. They had enough uniforms for every student, although Xavier didn't want any of them to ever be necessary.

Wolverine just shook his head and regretted that he had to wear his own. He knew that it looked strong, and he had to admit that wearing of it reminded him of being out on his bike, but that didn't make up for the fact that he felt like he belonged in an X-rated movie when wearing it. He would have to ask who designed the things at some point….

The wolverine was getting frustrated, not just at Micki's lateness, but at how he hadn't anticipated it. He walked into the Blackbird and sat behind the controls. Amara hadn't followed him. "I just don't see why we gotta take the Blackbird…We don't need anything this big for a three person mission." He began going through a sequence of steps to get the jet started, then walked back down to the girl quickly, and made his announcement. "We leave on time. With or without the other girl."

Amara frowned at the thought. She didn't like the idea of being alone on a mission with the wild beast…although she'd spent her fair share of time in jungles with wild men.

Wolverine wasn't as keen to go on a mission with one other girl as Amara was…He preferred to go solo. He was hoping that if Micheala didn't show up, then Amara would give up, and he could go on his own.

And then, as if by a stroke of divine providence, Micki showed up 2 minutes before launch time. Wolverine was not happy.

"You're late." He said with an angry growl.

She didn't respond to his anger. "Are we prepared for take-off?"

Wolverine was shocked at her knowledge of aerial vocabulary. "We would be if you hadn't been late. No time for you to get changed down here. Take these, and get changed on the blackbird." He tossed her uniform at her, which she caught, and looked at.

"This is made out of dead cow carcass."

Wolverine shoved a pair of boots at her, then entered the blackbird. "No, it's made out of dead cow skin. Now, you don't want to make its sacrifice to have been in vain, do you? Put it on."

She shook her head, and followed him into the blackbird, where Amara had already strapped herself into one of the seats that were further back. "I don't wear dead animals."

Wolverine frowned. If he had to wear the damn uniform, then she sure had better wear hers. He looked back at her. "Funny, looks to me like you're wearing a leather belt. Last time I checked, leather belts were made out of the same thing as leather uniforms."

Micki looked shocked. "That was a gift!" When she noticed that her exclamation didn't change Wolverine's mind, she couldn't help but add. "from Jen…"

Wolverine growled, she was trying his patience. "So, Merry Christmas." He sat behind the controls of the Blackbird again, and strapped himself in. "Sit Down."

She frowned obeyed, and was careful to buckle herself. She wasn't about to wear that skin-tight uniform, when her clothes were just as good…

Amara looked at Micki, with slight disdain. "Maybe you should put it on. These uniforms were especially designed for the types of resistance that we X-men might encounter."

Micki caught onto the other girl's attitude. "I suppose, since I'm not an X-man, then, that it would be inappropriate for me to wear one of your uniforms. I find my own more comfortable, anyways."

Amara was about to respond when Wolverine cut in. "Quit yer arguing, we're taking off. Girl, you will put on that uniform, or I will drop you from the jet at 2 kilometers above sea-level." Wolverine opened the launch pad, and they took off towards the amazon.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**A/N**

**Soo….took me a while, huh? Not exactly my fav chapter so far, but I promise it's getting somewhere. PROMISE! **

**Please do read and review, it makes me happy, and want to update more…plus updating is better than reading for Organic Chemistry, or Genetics….bwah.**

**Please do tell me what I can fix, too. I know that there is a lot that I don't like about this chapter, but I'm just getting back into the swing of things . Advice would def help me do that.**

"I'm sure that wearing leather in a rainforest is appropriate." The silver haired elf was speaking with disdain again. She had on the black uniform, and boots. Green straps held a machete tightly to her thigh, and a shoulder belt held her communicator. The uniform went up to her neck, and she was clearly uncomfortable wearing it. Wolverine had to admit, though, that it did look attractive on her. She usually wore loose-fitting cotton-based clothing. Wearing something that held tight to her body was definitely more interesting than her usual affair. Not that the girl had the most feminine body; she was more athletic than voluptuous, or curvy. Not exactly Logan's ideal body type.

Wolverine was more than just a little happy to respond. "We ain't wearing leather."

Micki, who was walking beside Wolverine, stopped and shot him a look that should severely incapacitate. Wolverine, with his incredible healing powers to protect him, didn't stop walking.

Amara continued along with Logan and mused. "It's so like leather, though, I would have never known the difference, I read something once about viscose being such a great substitute. Why didn't you just tell her it wasn't leather? That may have made her more willing to wear it."

"Her problem wasn't with the leather."

Micki, who had stayed back to close her eyes and control her rage, caught up with the other two and fell back into step. They had another half mile to walk before they reached the jungle.

Wolverine landed the blackbird about a mile from the jungle, as they didn't have much choice. They landed in the middle of an abandoned field, which was obviously a remnant of slash and burn techniques. To Wolverine, it was clear that the sight of the earth-leeching was painful for Micheala; she was obviously an earth-bound creature…which is a strange thought, considering that she's an alien.

The area of rainforest that they were edging closer to was a small section of a larger one; it had been isolated by the slash and burn techniques that the natives had taken to. Using these techniques, the natives essentially pinched the 10 mile-squared area off of the larger Amazon. There weren't too many places for the kid to hide, and Wolverine had a good feeling about sniffing him out…It was just finding a place to start that gave him a hint of concern, but not much. Wolverine did, after all, always get his man. Of course, it can't be ignored that everything would be easier if there weren't two girls tagging along and slowing him down.

They soon reached the edge of the woods, and Amara looked over at Wolverine for what he could only assume was guidance. "How do we know where to start?"

Wolverine was about to respond when Micheala cut in. Wolverine couldn't tell if her overriding of his authority was intentional or not.

"I can point us in the right direction." And, without waiting for Logan's permission, the girl stepped towards the trees, and laid her hand on one. She closed her eyes, and seemed to fall into a trance-like state. Wolverine didn't like it, not only did it remind him of one of those televised fake psychics, but she had yet another capability that he wasn't aware of. Had he gone soft in his time at the academy?

Micki opened her eyes and pointed in a south-east direction. "If we enter here, we'll have to head off at approximately a 35-degree angle heading right. Shall we?" She looked at Wolverine and made way for him first, clearly indicated that he should make a path for the others.

Wolverine didn't like the girls lip, and his patience was wearing thin. He felt his lip curl back menacingly as he looked at the two of them in a very dominating way. "Look, before we go in, we gotta get somethin' straight. I'm in charge of this mission, and I don't want any more of your lip. Got me?" He looked at Amara, who nodded respectfully, she was clearly happy to have an adult in charge. Micki nodded as well, although she was clearly still upset about the uniform, which she expressed by unzipping it down far enough to fold the collar back.

"I'll go first, and clear the way. You, "he pointed to Amara, "Take up the rear. You," He turned his attention to Micki, " are gonna keep doing whatever it was that you just did until I can get a good scent on this guy. If we run into anything, it'll have to come through me to get to either of you." He didn't want any response from either of them, so he released his claws dangerously close to Micki, turned and began clearing the vines and underbrush to make the walking easier on the girls.

Wolverine was not happy. Micki kept pointing them in the same direction, and they had been walking for going on an hour now. It wasn't the intensity of the mosquito's, the humidity, or the distracting noises that bothered him, however; he was used to all of that. It was the girl's responses to the environment. There was a constant slapping of skin, and the girls weren't exactly treating each other in a loving way. Wolverine felt like he was babysitting, and took his aggression out by slicing at a mosquito and cleaving it in half before taking his next swipe at the trees before him. At least he was comfortable in the synthetic clothes they were wearing.

"Check the direction again." He didn't like basing their movements off of what could be half-crazed ramblings of a young girl, but he didn't have much of a choice. There were so many scents, and it was hard to lock onto a human scent. The noises were pretty intense too. He knew the calls of many of the birds that they heard, and the monkeys were always extremely distinct.

She stopped and smiled, and then placed her hand on a tree again. She followed the same procedure as she had the last 4 or 5 times, and pointed in a direction again. Wolverine headed off again in the direction that that she pointed out. His arms were getting a little tired, but he didn't plan on letting that slow him down.

"Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?" That damn brown haired girl always had something to say. Wolverine made an especially harsh slash at a thick vine. He didn't have the patience to respond.

A few minutes passed, clearly they expected him to say something, but Wolverine wasn't going to waste his energy answering pointless questions. Micki finally spoke up "Do you doubt my ability to speak with nature?" She sounded offended. 'Great,' Wolverine thought to himself, 'exactly what we need right now, a catfight…'

"No, I just don't understand it. From what I heard, you're only ability is super human strength. Nobody mentioned anything about Earth powers." Amara picked up a snobbish tone in her response. Wolverine decided to let them get their frustrations out of their system. This heat and humidity would be enough to drive any person to fighting.

…Anyone but Micki, evidently. "I don't have any. I can just feel nature around me, and unlike most other people, I know how to listen. It's like meditating. I just become one with my surroundings." She was fairly civil in her retort, and it shocked Wolverine to see how different she was when she felt insulted. This wasn't the childish pouting that she had shown earlier.

"Whatever." Wolverine guessed that Amara didn't like the subtle insult that Micki had embedded in her response. Unfortunately for Amara, what Micki said was true, and there was no way for Amara to argue that.

Wolverine, however, was done listening to them. He had a feeling that they were getting close, and he didn't want their talking to dull his senses. "Both of you stop bickering. Micki, make sure we're going the right way."

The girl growled a guttural sound that Wolverine wasn't used to hearing come from a girl. She didn't like his dominating nature, evidently. Wolverine really didn't care. "It's the right way."

They walked for a few more minutes in quiet…Or as quiet as the rainforest can get. The shinging of Wolverine's claws clashed with the sounds of the birds and monkeys calling overhead. The quiet was not to last, however, as Amara felt compelled to complain again. "I don't get it. Why go through so much trouble just for one mutant?"

The girl wouldn't shut up when Wolverine asked her to, so maybe, just maybe talking to her would give her the hint. "We need to recruit as many mutants as possible before someone else leads them down the wrong path." Wolverine did not have a pleasant tone in his voice, in fact, his tone was almost mocking. He continued to slash at the vines, sweat beading off of his forehead.

"What if he doesn't want to come with us?" She had an innocent and sweet way about her voice. That sweetness bothered Wolverine, she didn't seem very assertive…and that wasn't something that Wolverine was good at respecting.

"Then there's nothing we can do about it." By, "IT" one might think that Wolverine meant bringing the boy back, but what he really meant, was bringing the boy back without the means of violence. He didn't like failure.

"For someone who used to be so shy, you ask too many questions," Micki pointed out, and Wolverine was thankful for that, as long as there was no rebuttal.

"I was just curious," The girl said it quietly, and Wolverine appreciated the silence. He preferred an acute sense of what was going on over their chatter.

Once again, however, the silence was not to remain. Every few minutes Wolverine would hear smack, and an "OW" coming from Micki. He frowned and assumed that it was the larger mosquitoes merely taking their fill, but finally the girl spoke up. He turned to see Micki facing Amara.

"Are you flinging embers at me?" Her voice was calm, and though Wolverine couldn't see Micki's face he could tell from her body posture that she was angry.

The heat must have gotten to the shy girl because she crossed her arms and leaned back on her heels. "What makes you think I'm capable of such a thing? Why in the world would I do that?"

Micki wrapped her arms behind her back and grasped her own wrist. Wolverine could see her hand tighten, hard against her wrist. She was clearly unhappy, although her voice betrayed none of her emotions. "Your mutant name is "Magma." I don't tend to think of myself as unintelligent, but I suppose that I must be if that doesn't suggest that you have some pyro-capabilities."

Wolverine was getting sick of these distractions. "LOOK, if you kids don't quit this, I'll make it so you CAN'T continue to argue. We have a job to do. If I hear one more argument, one of you will be the one slicing down these vines."

Amara couldn't let it go. "I wouldn't mind removing some of those vines, and then we'd feel some real heat around here."

Wolverine saw from behind that Micki's head lowered in shock. "You would burn here?! Unnatural burning?! Didn't already see the havoc that was wrought upon the area surrounding this place?!" In response, Amara simply sparked a fireball in her hand and threw it up and down like a baseball.

Wolverine has seen many women fight, but he'd never seen a fight quite like this one. The silver haired girl simply slammed the other one to the ground and held her there. "People like you are the reason that your planet is dying!" She said calmly and angrily.

As she was saying this, however, the other girl quickly lit up into a figure of literal fire. Wolverine expected the fight to boil down immediately, as Micki's hands were probably being seriously burnt, but Micki held on. "HOW DARE YOU!?"

The man didn't like how this was going, if they kept yelling, there was no way the mutant wasn't going to hear them, and he didn't know what kind of reception they would get. So, Wolverine ripped Micki, who was heavier than expected, off of the smaller girl. He slammed Micki to the ground on one side of him, as Mara got up on the other side. "Turn off your fire." He snapped at her. She immediately did as he requested, looking more than a little bit afraid. Wolverine struck a very intimidating figure in his aggressive stance.

That was how Micki became the one to slice down the vegetation before them. And, Wolverine had to admit, she seemed to know what she was doing. That is, she seemed to know what she was doing until she suddenly disappeared. She was simply there one moment, there was a large crash, and she was gone.

Before Amara had a chance to react, wolverine quickly and instinctively looked to the right where he saw a path that had been carved through the woods. He followed it at a controlled sprint a good 15 feet to where Micki was holding as tightly as she could to the edge of hole that was another good 15 feet in diameter. She looked rather afraid for her life. Wolverine looked down at her. "You got a good grip?" He was thinking fast, trying to figure out exactly what just happened. She nodded her agreement.

"I think I can pull myself up." Micki looked up to him for affirmation.

Wolverine was aware of Amara standing behind him looking down at Micki fearfully. Her breath was hot and heavy against the back of his neck, she was scared. Wolverine turned his thoughts back to Micki quickly. What's with women and always talking instead of acting? "Don't think, just do it."

Micki nodded, and pulled up against the weight of whatever was holding her down. Wolverine knew that she was strong enough to pull whatever it was up. Unfortunately, the ground around the edge didn't share that strength. The earth crumbled beneath her fingertips and she was in a free fall for a single instant before Wolverine reached down and wrapped his hand around one of her wrists. With a great effort he pulled back and put her hands back on the edge. "Got a grip?" He grunted out.

"Yeah!" She responded, still looking rather nervous about the entire situation, but not particularly frantic.

Wolverine let go of her wrist and looked over his shoulder at Amara "Fly down there and see what's holding her down."

Amara, still looking scared, nodded. Wolverine couldn't believe how afraid the girl was, sure, the silver haired girl might just die if she was alone, but she wasn't alone. The girl flared up into her magma form again, and surprisingly enough, there was a complaint.

"DON'T YOU DARE! YOU COULD BURN DOWN THE ENTIRE FOREST, THEN WHERE WOULD WE BE?! SHE'S HOT ENOUGH TO LIGHT EVEN THESE TREES ON FIRE!" Micki seemed to have found her voice, although it did crack slightly with each word, and seemed slightly weakened by her inability to breathe easily. Wolverine was shocked by her respect for nature, even beyond her own life.

Wolverine nodded at Magma, and she floated back to the earth and let her fire go out. Wolverine had to admit that he didn't like the idea of endangering this precious forest, either. So much for the easy way. The man took a look down the hole, saw various sharpened stakes and the like scattered about waiting to impale the silver haired girl should she let go. Wolverine heard the snikt of his claws coming out even before he thought to request it. He slid down beside Micki, let go of one arm and used slammed his claw into the wall with his free arm. He proceeded, then, to let go of the edge of the cliff with his other arm, and used his claws to climb down the face of the hole. He made his way down by Micki's waist and saw what was holding her down. Whoever this Quicksilver was, he seemed to know how to lay traps. As far as Wolverine could see, there was an elaborate trap that took a lot of planning. It was based loosely off of a noose-like rabbit snare, except it used a long rope attached to a precariously balanced 3ft boulder. There must have been a system of pulleys involved that would allow for the disturbance of the noose to release the boulder. Wolverine could see that there was an extremely strong rope attached to Micki's foot that was tied around the boulder. The rope was long enough that it allowed Micki to hang from the edge of the hole with about a foot of slack. Evidently, Quicksilver didn't plan for the person to go down in the trap to be that tall. Therefore, when Micki tried to pull herself up, she had to pull the weight of the boulder up as well, which, Wolverine guessed, weighed at least 200-300 lbs. Micki may have been able to handle that weight, but the unsupported ground certainly couldn't. Wolverine held one hand's claws in the wall as he used the other to slice Micki free.

"Magma, Help her up!" He yelled angrily up. He could smell death coming from the bottom of the hole. The man climbed down the rest of the way, carefully avoided several large stakes, and stood on the ground. Some of the wooden projections stood above his chest. He sunk down into a crouching position and tried to center in on the smell. He couldn't distinguish a specific species, there were so many. He looked about and saw why. There were impaled animal everywhere. Tamers, jaguars, giant anteaters, he even saw a wild boar. Micki could say whatever she wanted about fires, but at least fire was natural. In that kids hunt for revenge, he destroyed all of this innocent wildlife. Wolverine was infuriated. He began slicing down to the quick every single stake. There must have been at least 50 stakes, but he made sure that none of them would continue to hurt any animal. There was one animal that remained alive. It was a large wild boar, and as soon as it saw him it was afraid. He could see it in the animal's eyes, even though it no longer had the strength to struggle against the stake that held it in midair. It had been pierced through its flank, and it hung upside down. It must have been there for several days, the poor thing was emaciated. Wolverine quickly put the animal out of its misery. The boar was the only animal down there that wasn't already half-rotten. Wolverine reduced the rest of the stakes to splinters, and then lifted the boar. He was shocked at how heavy it was, but he wouldn't be stopped. He cut free the rest of the rope attached to the rock, and used it as an aid to fling the boar back up to the surface. At least this way, the animal wouldn't be wasted. In response, he heard a shout of dismay from above. Something about that made him smile.

He went about the task of climbing back up the edge, which, as he knew it would be, was harder than climbing down. He hadn't expected to have a hand offered to him when he reached the edge, but Micki did offer it. He waved it off, and pulled himself back up onto the land.

The man stood up and didn't bother to dust himself off. "Let's go." He started back off towards the path that they left, and decidedly became the first in line again. If anything else happened, he knew he was capable of getting himself out of it. He wouldn't risk a girl's life again.

"Wait" He heard, and expected another complaint. He looked back to see a following Magma, and a sheepish looking Micki.

The silver haired girl looked him in the eye, and he could see that what she was saying was hard for her. "Thank you."

However, he was right to expect another complaint, as Amara had to take her chance. "I don't think you had to fling the pig TOWARDS us, it could've hurt somebody…"

Wolverine just frowned. What was the professor's point in sending him out with these girls?!


	8. Chapter 8

**So, guess what I realized? I backtracked and changed all the Mikala's to Micki/Micheala. That's what I get for having so many different names for one character, lol. Sorry all, very unprofessional of me (which is vaguely acceptable, considering that I'm not professional, but not really acceptable at all)**

**A/N: Hi hi everyone!!! I know it took me a while, and I'm sorry to those of you who are still reading that it took so long...but, anyways, thank you for continuing to read! I hope you've been enjoying the story so far... Anyways, PLEASE...please send me some constructive criticism if you read this. I can't get any better if nobody points out what needs improvement :D. So, please review . Special thanks to my good buddies who left comments :). Including Poggerdig, Mizukagami99, Shinomegami, and Mauraders Heir. Hope everyone's had a lovely holiday season!!! (personally, I quite enjoyed Christmas , and can't wait for new Years)...so, ramblings done, enjoy!!**

Chapter 8

They were spending far too much time searching for the new mutant, and the pit of Wolverine's stomach wouldn't let him forget that fact. He slashed his way through the heavy growth, and could feel the water condensing on the ends of his claws. They were all soaking wet, and the humidity was keeping them from any cooling perspiration. The girls had calmed by now, and it was clear that they were both wilting a bit.

Wolverine could see allowing himself to lose strength like them, but wouldn't. he had been trained better. The man just set his face in a frown and double timed their pace, reminding himself to stay doubly alert.

He sliced down another thick low-lying tree limb and suddenly noticed a glint in the vines as he passed by. Wolverine traced the spiderweb-like string down to the ground in an instant, and reality hit him fast. He only had a moment to utter a quick command as he dropped to the ground by instinct.

"DOWN!"

Wolverine heard a loud creaking overhead followed by a heavy crash. He looked through the growth and insects on the moist ground and saw that Micheala's feet were still planted firmly in the dirt, albeit a foot long rut ran before each one. The wolverine cursed everything, realizing that he had failed to protect the two girls again, until he traced her feet to her legs, her legs to her abdomen, and her abdomen to a large log? She had her forearms crossed in an X over her chest, her hands before her face, in a moment of shock and fear. That response served her well as she, taking advantage of her super strength, stopped the booby trap- a log jury rigged to a trip wire, meant to swing down and pommel any intruder-in it's tracks.…and probably saved Amaras life as well. Micki shifted her hands, and she stepped aside, allowing the log to slowly drift back, past the shocked Amara, to a place of rest. Amara looked around Micheala down at Wolverine on the ground, a look of absolutely shock and mistrust on her face…The dark haired man realized quickly what it looked like to her. The fearless leader was on the ground, and the two girls staring hopelessly down the face of a booby trap.

Wolverine had to be honest with himself "this leader stuff…It just ain't me." He told himself. " I work alone, and this responsibility for these two liabilities… It ain't working." The little man would have sent them back to the blackbird in an instant, and continued the mission alone, but unfortunately, they had little hope of getting to it without hitting some booby trap not unlike the two they had just encountered.

He jumped to his feet and looked at the brunette, and nodded to Micki that they should move on.

"I'm getting a scent on him, it's strong. We're close." He grunted, pulling a large spider off of his shoulder. Wolverine lead the way, once again promising himself that he would not be caught unawares again.

And, luckily, he wasn't. They closed quickly upon their prey, and without any more distractions, there were a few close calls, but Wolverine's cunning saved them. Within a half hour of their last bout with a planted trap, they found themselves crossing a bridge into an isolated village. It was a beautiful sight, with homes at varying heights in the trees, with crude rope and knot ladders leading up to the entry way of each. The hovels were simply camouflaged, only the color of the wood and tree branches they were made of concealed them from sight. There were several huts on the sandy ground, and evidence of a long dead bonfire. Wolverine was not comfortable. The village was dead, he knew it. The absence of nearly all scent told him so. He knew that their quarry was there, however, as the strange boy's scent was everywhere. There was no scent of any other human there; it had to be him.

"Stay alert,' he said turning behind him to address the girls, 'there's something not..' He quickly realized that he was one short. He was addressing Magma alone. The brown haired girl sheepishly pointed to where the other one was. Micheala had already found her way up into one of the dwellings, evidently on some bout of curiosity. Wolverine frowned. "We'll wait. Pay attention, girl; We just lost our element of surprise."

Micki remained up in the tree house for quite some time, but once she finished whatever business she had there, she made a quick and gallant leap out of the house. Wolverine was not impressed; it was 3 meters off the ground. He frowned at her deeply, she had endangered the other two, leaving them as sitting ducks while she went off to explore for the sake of her own enjoyment.

"Let's sweep this out. Amara left, Micki right, I'll go straight down the middle. Make a perimeter sweep, and give a call if you find anything." As the man didn't like the feeling he was getting from the ghost-village, he quickly called his claws out. It was not lost on the man that they also emphasized his authority.

And they were off. Wolverine was starting to feel better about his role as leader, but he still could not imagine feeling comfortable with it. They followed Wolverine's directions and made their way quietly down the main strip of open ground. The man glanced from one to the other, keeping an eye on his pupils while he tried to keep his focus, himself. They made a quick sweep of the small village, peering into every hut, and pulling up every possible trap door. Things began to make sense when Wolverine reached the end of the village grounds and saw stones placed in concentric circles. He looked carefully and noticed that the ground was soft. He'd seen places like this before, it was a new cemetery. And he could tell that whatever happened, the people buried were celled en masse, as the ground before each stone was equally soft. He shook his head and signaled with two quick flicks of his finger for the two girls to return to him. Things were looking dangerous again; Wolverine didn't know who or what killed these people, but he wasn't going to take a chance. It took only a few moments for Micheala and Amara to be by his side. He nodded his head towards the cemetery. Amara looked confused for a second, but Micki seemed unsurprised.

"What…what is it?" The brunette asked in confusion. "Why are the stones in circles like that?

Wolverine silenced her with a look and responded in a low voice "It's a burial ground. Whoever killed those people did it recently, too. The grounds liable to give under you if you walk on them." Wolverine looked from the brunette who seemed to shudder at the thought of mass killings, to the silver haired girl who seemed unaffected by it all. His hope was that his normal animalistic behavior would strike fear into their hearts, and get them to realize their danger. Wolverine knew that he could defend himself, but these children weren't tested enough as far as he was concerned. He suddenly sniffed the air, the scent of their quarry was nearer yet. He looked back at the girls to warn them, but noticed that Micki was gone again.

He looked at Amara, who seemed to have become immune to his penetrating glare. "Where is she?"

Amara looked behind her "I-I don't know, she was just here…"

Wolverine's anger began to build within him, and it made itself known in his thoughts.'Who the Hell does this girl think she is?? She is NOT the leader on this job, and just because she's some hot-shot martian doesn't mean she gets to do whatever the Hell she wants!' Wolverine growled and looked about, fury written on his face. She couldn't have gotten far, and it took but one more instant for him to hear her call.

"Logan,"

The man instinctively pinpointed where the voice had come from, and immediately made his way into the hut, with Amara right behind him. He glared heavily at Micki, her leaving was one thing, having the audacity to call him by his first name was another. He noticed steam rising from a plate that Micheala was pointing at. He momentarily forgot his rage as nature kicked in. He sniffed the air instinctively. "Someone was definitely here." And not long ago…Wolverine added in his mind.

He heard a strong wind rustle and turned to see Amara flung back into the small house. Wolverine glanced outside and saw nothing, but he could tell she was watching something. The man followed the young woman's gaze and saw what she reacted to, a bridge a little more than 500 feet down the road had a small whirlwind of dust flying straight up. The hairy man realized that they were trapped. That bridge was the entrance to the small village, with the graveyard on the opposite end, and they were flanked on either side by the low and long ground-huts. Wolverine glanced back at Micki, who seemed unsure of what was going on. He directed her gaze to the whirlwind on the bridge silently, and then held his pointer finger up to his mouth. He could see her rebellion building up in her eyes again. It didn't take long for the girl to act upon her emotions. She ignored his authority and marched right past him. Wolverine had had enough of this girl and her damned insubordination. She was only about a foot past him when he grabbed her by the arm and strongarmed her against the wall of the small hut.

"I'm in charge here." He growled menacingly, his voice hardly more than a whisper. He glared at her eye to eye. The girls knees were nearly on the ground; He was supporting her completely. "We already saw what happens when you try to lead." He let go of her arm, which made her stumble before she stood again. "We're going to do this MY way."

He knew the reaction that she would have, because it's the exact same way he would have reacted to someone doing that to him. She pushed him aside, hard, and marched right past, again, but this time with a more determined look on her face. Wolverine had finally awoken her, and it gave him two strong sensations. An animalistic pride, for having outwitted her, and the second was a curiosity. He wanted to see what she was truly like.

"Let's finish this." She muttered quietly as she marched past the Wolverine. The short set man then saw Amara glance back at him. He couldn't believe it, magma-girl hadn't paid any attention to his rebuke, she was too distracted by the whirlwind. Wolverine could tell by the look in her eyes that she was more than just a little concerned. The whirlwind was growing, and Micheala continued to walk towards it.

"What's he trying to do?"

Wolverine frowned, the answer was easy enough. "Trap us and scare us." The fast-boy's technique was obviously working on the brunette.

"Why?" She tremored out.

Wolverine was so distracted by Micheala that it took him a moment to respond. She was standing completely still before the 12 foot whirlwind, her hair flying behind her like a thousand tiny whips. Dirt and debris certainly had to be chipping away at her skin, and cutting her face. He didn't even see her blink. "Probably wants us to think he's better than us so that we'll go away when he stops." Wolverine began to walk towards the bridge, with Amara close behind. She didn't respond to him, but he heard another response from 30 yards away.

"Too bad for him" his keen eyes picked up on the silver-haired girls whisper. Wolverine continued to walk as he pondered that. Was that a response to what he said to Amara?? How could she hear them over the whipping wind and the distance?? He watched with continued curiosity as she braced herself a thousandth of an instant before whipping a powerful arm forward and lifting a white haired boy off the ground by his shirt. "Nice try" She said, a hint of a smirk on her face.

So, this was the girl that was sneaking about the mansion, threatening everyone… Wolverine knew that the girl he had slammed in the blackboard at the mansion was not the same as the one before him. She finally cracked out of her shell. He looked at her unscathed face and frowned as the whirlwind suddenly settled. He was learning things here.

The boy spoke, in a strong tenor, he was clearly a bit too cocky. "You're strong. So, is that your ability?"

The silver haired girl gave the slightest of nods, which made Wolverine snort in his own mind. 'One of many', he thought.

The boy, however, took it for fact. "Cool"

Micki was right, Logan thought. He was done with this, it was time to finish the mission. He held his fist up next to the boys face. "No more games, or next time you'll find these through you." The boys face turned quickly when he saw the flash in his peripheral vision.

Wolverine watched Micki set the boy down, an ironic grin gracing his elongated canines. "Good, now we can talk like civilized creatures."

**Please review****? It would make me ever so happy! Even if it's just "I really didn't like this chapter" It's great encouragement if I know people are reading :D. Plus, I'll read at the very least one of your stories and review it. Okay, so that sounded like a bribe, but it really wasn't. I promise!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Note: I would like to apologize for the gross errors in the past few chapters… Namely the water condensing on Wolverine's claws (I'm sure the dew point was much lower than the heat they were walking through)…As well as the assumption that a tropical rainforest has a lot of undergrowth…which it definitely doesn't. Sorry! I'll do better, promise :D. **

It didn't take much to convince the boy that he was better off at Xavier's Academy, in fact it took a whole 3 sentences of effort…Although Wolverine appreciated the lack of effort that was necessary, he was slightly apprehensive about how willing the boy was. He was quick to differentiate the apprehension from instinct, and as judging people wasn't his inborn talent, he swept the apprehension off, and decided he would take care of the kid himself if it ever came to that.

The trek back to the blackbird was much quicker than the venture away from it. It was much shortened by the leading of Pietro, as the boys name was, who knew where all the traps were laid. Wolverine headed up the rear, and kept an eye on all of the kids, with a special focus on Mikala, who stood just before him. Wolverine's eye was attracted by how he could smell how nervous she was, he could hear it in her voice even as she masked her questions to the kid as innocent remarks.

"So, how long have you been here?" She yelled up to him.

Pietro glanced back at her, Logan had to hand it to the kid, his eyes were piercing. At first he seemed to be sneering, but then thought better of it and responded. "I've only been here a little less than a month. I've been traveling all through this area, trying to keep low…You know, avoiding ole Pappykins…" Wolverine could hear a snort from ahead, the kid sure hated his father, or at least acted as if he did.

"Those people, how long were they here before you?? Do you know if they traveled around a lot??" She was definitely not trying to keep up friendly conversation, as the boy was obviously upset about the death of all those villagers.

The boy stiffened as he walked, he obviously didn't want to answer, but he did after a few minutes. "They... I don't really know, I wasn't here with them for too long…But they had just built up the village right before I got here, the wood was fresh, and they seemed intent on staying there…I, …Yeah, they're dead, does it really matter all that much?"

Mikala was quiet for a minute, there was something in her voice that made Wolverine's knuckles itch...Something that suggested they may be in trouble.

"You said that you've been here about a month?"

Pietro didn't turn to look back at her, but the irritation in his voice said it all. "Yeah, a little less, why?"

"We need to move. Now. Get straight back to the Blackbird." She pushed Amara ahead, and yelled up to Pietro. "MOVE!" Something in her voice must have alerted the boy, as there was a snap of sound and he was literally gone, with Amara close behind, a trail of smoke lay in her wake. Micki had started moving, when Logan grabbed her arm tightly and held her back. He seemed to be a little less edgy than the two kids, it was something that came with being a veteran.

"We ain't movin' till you tell me what the Hell is going on!" Wolverine's voice was a low growl, that had a slight edge of urgency, that was merely a reflection of the girls own.

Her eyes weren't frantic, but they looked concerned. She met the gaze of his obsidian eyes with a calm intensity. "This is a BDFF…… It stands for Biodiversity Forest Fragment..That's why there was that big strip, where we landed, they're going to see the Blackbird, and then we'll be in trouble… You didn't put the stealth on!" Wolverine let go of her arm, the man had no idea what a BDFF was, but the silver haired girl seemed to know what she was talking about, and her eyes told him that she was speaking the truth.

He gave her a look and they both took off running through the wet underbrush as quickly as they could. They had walked most of the way back, and as Wolverine remembered it was only a half mile to the Blackbird. A thousand thoughts ran through his head. He knew that the boy racer was probably already there, and he most likely left Amara behind, who was probably giving their location away by flaming her way out of the forest. If these people were really as sinister as Mikala seemed to think they were, they were going to know they had visitors long before Logan ever caught up. He growled at the girl who was easily keeping up with them "Did you have to scare the Hell outta them like that?!"

She just looked at him and Wolverine was faced with a grin. Logan had seen that look once before, Rob Roy wore that face whenever he and Logan were heading into battle together. It was his look that said that they were heading into action, and he was excited.

Logan slowed when he got a glimpse of the clearing through the brush. He stalked his way around to the edge, and carefully peered out to see if he could identify what was going on with the two kids. He watched and allowed himself to be slightly relieved when he saw the gigantic blackbird standing about 300 yards away. He couldn't see speedy-boy, or the flaming wonder, however, and that made him frown. He stuck his face up in the air and took a few whiffs, ignored the smell of the girl next to him and caught specks of the familiar scent of his team. He looked at the silver haired girl, who stood calmly next to him, and jerked his head to the left, meaning that he was going around the edge of the clearing further along and get a better look. Then he fixed her with a glare that would have sent small children screaming in fear. There was something about the feral quality in the small man that made people automatically nervous. The glare was meant to signal that she stay. He turned and quickly, quietly and professionally ducked and wove his way quickly around the edge of the forest until he was around far enough to see the other side of the blackbird and the two kids who were sitting on the ground, sitting on their hands. There were two men standing before them, one was overweight, shirtless and pointing a double-barreled shotgun at the kids. As Wolverine watched, he saw the second man, a khaki-clad well-tanned man look at the other guy and say something. The shirtless sunburned man lowered the shotgun a bit, but kept it in his both his hands and aimed near the kids. Wolverine turned to make it a little further around to where he could see the kids better, but instead found himself face to face with the damn girl again. She was looking past him and at the kids, she turned her gaze towards him without arrogance and leaned towards his face. Her cheek brushed his whiskers and he wondered exactly what she was trying to do. He stepped back quickly and quietly with the ferocity of an animal, he simultaneously felt the deep pain in his hands that meant his claws were out. He didn't trust the girl, and wasn't going to let her that near to him without an explanation or permission. His narrowed obsidian eyes showed deadly precision as they met her jade green eyes. However, the look on her face told her that he was mistaken.

She looked shocked and incredulous. She pointed at her expansive ears and mouthed to him "I can hear them." And motioned with her head towards his ear, with an obvious contemptuous look. It was clear to the shorter man that she wanted to tell him what they were saying.

Wolverine showed anger at the 'you-must-be-a-complete-dumbass' look she was given him and reluctantly, as well as dramatically, turned his head so she could tell him what she heard.

She leaned towards him and explained "They're suspicious. They want to know what the kids are doing with a jet as advanced as the blackbird. They want to know if more of us are out there." She pulled away and looked at him, she had a question written all over her face. 'What's the plan?', it asked.

Wolverine looked back, and whispered in a way that was more growl than any human sound. "you stay here." The annoyed and unappreciated look that Mikala seemed to always give him was starting to be amusing to Logan, at the very least it proved to him that she considered him the leader. _Her_ _leader_, he thought, as he bobbed and weaved his way silently behind and out of the sight of the two men. It took mere seconds before he was behind both of them. He grabbed the overweight shirtless man around the shoulders with his left arm, and had his right claws quickly on the man's back behind his kidneys, the sharp tips drawing three dots of blood.

"Drop the gun, buddy, or you'll both be dead."

The man quickly complied, and gently set the gun down on the ground, holding it by the butt.

"Hands up, both of you.." The small man glared at the second man who seemed reluctant. "if I have to drop him, you'll be next." Once both men complied, Wolverine looked over at Amara, and said gutturally. "Get the gun." He walked around the man, claws extended, until he was facing both of them, he extended his second set of claws and pointed them at the other man. "Come over here, I've got some questions."

Wolverine could see the fiery brunette scramble for the gun and step back with it, held by the barrel like a dirty piece of laundry. "You two, why're you hassling two teenagers?"

The overweight man seemed to have lost his gumption, as he seemed uncomprehending of Wolverine's words. "No entiendo. No hablos ingles"

Wolverine tooks his eyes off of the thankful-looking man and looked at the taller, skinnier, better dressed man "Hables Ingles?" Although Logan was fluent in at least 4 languages that he knew of, he was not interested in dropping out of his vernacular for an interview. He wanted the two men to fear him as a foreigner, and as someone more powerful, and exotic.

The man responded with perfect English, he didn't have a hint of fear in his eyes. His suave clothing was equaled by his soothing baritone."Yes, yes, I do. My name is Tiago Perreira, and you're on my land."

Wolverine narrowed his eyes at the man,

"And you're holding a shotgun to my students…I don't take kindly to that."

Logan's dark brown eyes were met with a cooler, creamier brown, who seem to take to a challenge in an equally intense, yet more refined way than the shorter man. He seemed to recognize the fact that Wolverine was a mutant, and at the same time try to figure into how that information could get him out of his situation.

"I would like to remind you, my good sir, that you and your…eh, students, are trespassing on my land. We had no intention of harming them, we were just curious as to the gigantic plane that was sitting in the middle of my…research land…Your students just startled us." Wolverine got the feeling that there was patronization going on here…and the man wasn't exactly telling the whole truth.

The man was eloquent, and obviously trying to soothe the beast that stood before him, and Wolverine could see that…But his reference to a research facility immediately flicked a switch in the man's mind, and he switched from being a cranky man to a feral beast. Incoherent images flew through Wolverine's mind, broken memories of searing hot pain, faces muffled, and almost painted green as he looked at them through a green liquid. In a split second his mind resolved to never allow these other mutant kids to have to deal with the same frustration he had. Every movement that Wolverine made was instinctual, and his movements were always over before he could have a second thought. He drew his arm back with a snap, it quickly became a bear trap waiting to be tripped, and the moment he felt the release of his arm going for the man's chest, he could feel the tug of an excited grin at either side of his mouth. This action was exactly what he lived for, and he could feel in his adamantium-coated bones that this man was capable of more than he let on. His claws never hit their target. His dark eyebrows rose when he realized that the man before him had warped his body to create a hole precisely where Wolverine had aimed. The other man looked extremely surprised, and Wolverine finally let his lips extend in a fierce grin. "Nice trick."

The man looked too surprised to speak, and he quickly jumped back as Wolverine attempted to slice with his arm, the Venezuelan man only had the time to react thanks to the quick actions of a silver haired girl he hadn't noticed before. She had one hand firmly pulling back on the Wolverine's wrist and another planted on his back, pushing him forward. Tiago watched in surprise as the target moved from him, to the girl. The short, hairy man used the force that she applied to his back to propel him around, his free hand already swiping for the young woman. Tiago grabbed the wrist of his overweight friend without removing his eyes from the scene. The girl responded quickly, with cat-like agility, blocking by hitting his wrist with her forearm. Perreira couldn't believe that a scrawny girl like that could stand up in a fight to such a powerful man. They were both quick, and she certainly had to be a mutant with the power that she used to push him around. As much as he wanted to watch the fight, Perreira was no fool. If he and Miguel wanted to survive, they would have to leave while the beast was distracted. 'El Diablo…', Tiago heard Miguel mutter as they made their escape.

Wolverine knew that Mikala was not the enemy, but she didn't seem too frightened by the fight, and he was so frustrated by the small girl that he felt it did him good to fight her. He was surprised at how well she was able to fend him off, although, she certainly had her flaws...He was very much aware that he could easily crush her if he weren't being so careful not to hurt her. He wasn't surprised by her inability to defeat him, but he felt it was better that she knew that she wasn't his physical-or mental- superior. When he felt that she'd gotten enough exercise he let her last blow slide him back twenty feet from her. He stood, a tad out of breath, which surprised him. He looked at her with vague interest. "Why did you stop me?"

She shook her head, evidently a good while ago she realized that she had no chance, and just took this as a training exercise. She was heavily out of breath and sweating, something Wolverine hadn't seen her do yet. "A BDFF—it's a study of how clearing different shapes and sizes of area impacts the wildlife, and ecology of a woodland. It's not some maniacal top secret super-kill-people-on-contact type of government conspiracy." She had trouble explaining because she was so out of breath. She put her hands on her head and stood there breathing for a few minutes.

Wolverine looked at her with both his eyebrows raised, he had left all of his anger in the fight. "They weren't in any danger?"

She shook her head "Not until you showed up all angry and ready to kill. You just came to save your 'students', and boy did they ever need it." She grinned mischeviously. "You should study up on your ecology, Mr. Logan."

So, perhaps Wolverine hadn't fought off all of his anger. "Get yer ass on the blackbird. We're getting the Hell outta here, and I'ma let the Professor deal with you. I ain't no babysitter who's gonna sit you in the corner." He looked around for Amara and Pietro, and vaguely remembered the feeling of movement towards the Blackbird during his duel.

The girls grin didn't fade. "Ooh, just what I was counting on, deear teacher." She turned and walked onto the jet, arms still elevated over her head to aide in breathing.

Wolverine was half tempted to remind her that she almost got a man killed, but he was no nursemaid to these children, and all he wanted to do was get back to the mansion and enjoy a cold brew. He followed the kid onto the jet, noted that the other two were napping in the back and sat in the pilots seat.

It took a half hour of piloting for Wolverine to calm back down to an unusual state of mellow. The adrenaline in his body seemed to run far longer than necessary, almost to the point where he shouldn't have flown. He really didn't understand why the boy and girl were still asleep in the back, and although his proximity to his target had a tendency to cloud his vision, he wouldn't put it past her to have drugged them. Wolverine glanced back at the girl who had changed back into her clothes long before. He knew he had let her get to him before, and that his patience was wearing very thin for her, but he had to keep her talking. Wolverine knew that, in regards to getting someone to talk, the second best thing to intimidation was letting them talk themselves into a hole. So, he started a conversation.

"Nice job out there, Micki," Wolverine fought hard to keep sarcasm out of his voice, and it paid off.

"It wasn't much. I just stopped him," The girl responded immediately, almost as though she had been waiting for him to speak. She dropped into the co-pilots seat nonchalantly. "I was only doing what I was sent out here to do." The girl seemed bored as she looked back at the pair, the boy selfishly sprawled across two seats, while Amara was forced to lean against a wall. Nobody could accuse Speedy Gonzalez of being too chivalrous, Wolverine snorted to himself.

She certainly wasn't much of a conversationalist, but that was alright, Wolverine could drag the worst out of her if he wanted to. People make mistakes when they're angry. "Why don't you get some rest as well?" Logan suggested in a way that implied her immaturity. The girl responded by blinking and looking up at him, her green eyes twinkling.

"It's okay." She said, sweet to the point of sarcasm. "I'll keep you some company," she told him, causing the copilots seat to groan as she leaned heavily towards him.

Logan grinned to himself, she was reacting just as expected. The man had some more questions that he wanted answered, and he would start simply. "Every flown a jet before?"

The girl looked mildly shocked, and shook her silver head. The short man was going to have some fun with this. He watched her reactions carefully as she tentatively grabbed the controls, and did as she was bid. He noted how she tried to mask subtle adjustments to make the ride smoother. He watched as she tried to stop herself from adjusting certain dials after he merely named them, without describing them. This girl knew a lot more about modern technology than she wanted anyone else to know. Wolverine felt an intensified sense of smugness on the rest of the flight back. He even allowed himself to relax a little. Tomorrow morning he was going to get the answers he needed from Hank, and, as for the rest of the day, it seemed like a good time to relax.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**A/N: Sooo, here's chapter 10. Special thanks to everyone who believed I would actually continue this..and Especial thanks to TMCTFLYBOY, who I did not message back like I should have ********. Thanks so much for your comment, it really inspired me to keep writing! This chapter is definitely a change of pace, and I hope it reads better than it wrote ********. Let me know what you all think, whether you hated it or loved it…In any case—the next chapter should wrap up the entire story (it should be a long one)…So keep reading!**

Wolverine sat on the edge of the cliff. He stared tiredly out over the area as he second-guessed his decision not to buy beer. The day had certainly warranted it. Although the day's exertions normally would have little effect on him, the addition of the responsibility of the two girls gave him something less than a migraine. He'd hoped that the headache would be worth the information he would get out of Michaela, but it was merely more of the same; she knew more than she wanted to let on. She could fly the Blackbird with one hand tied behind her back, and Wolverine would hazard a guess that the one-of-a-kind jet isn't the only kind she could fly. He tossed the butt of his cigar out over the cliff. Tomorrow was the day. He could feel it in his bones. The next day would provide all the answers to his questions about the girl. Wolverine did not have any assurances that McCoy would find anything worthwhile, but he knew he was at the end of the hunt. This on-edge feeling would usually thrill him, but this one left him feeling conflicting emotions. He was as angry as Hell at both the girl's amateurism, and her potential. He had grown attached to chasing her. The hunt had been the most stimulating thing for him since he moved into the mansion. None of his mixed feelings could overshadow his usual feelings of ecstasy at cornering his quarry.

Wolverine folded his legs and closed his eyes. He laid his fists on his knees and tried to relax. The technique was something the Professor had taught him, and it felt natural to the grizzled man, it was familiar. With his eyes closed, he felt the colors of the sky change slowly from a pale blue to a pink, to a rich myriad of oranges, reds and purples. He was moderately calm when he smelled something familiar and looked back. Michaela stood about 20 feet back. She seemed to search his face for a reaction. After seeing nothing, she continued her approach. Wolverine turned away and looked out, contemplating the interaction that was about to take place. The man took out a cigar as Micki set a small blue cooler down beside him and sat on the other side of it. Wolverine lit the cigar as she opened the cooler and pulled out two iced Coronas. She held one bottle out to the hairy man.

Wolverine took one and grumbled "'Course the alien couldn't get anything domestic…" He popped the cap off his beer and took a drink, happy to finally have the one thing he'd wanted all day.

Micki shrugged and opened hers. She took a less-than-dainty sip and looked out over the scene. "Nice spot. Come here often?"

Wolverine looked at his beer thoughtfully, wanting to savor the first beer he'd had in a week. "Only when I'm sick of you."

The girl nodded. "Guess I just ruined it for you, then."

"You a bit young to be buying beer?" Wolverine knew why she was there, but didn't want to rush her into it.

She snorted "You'd be surprised."

Wolverine thought back to what of his life he remembered. He was definitely not the 40 that he looked. "Try me."

"…32, and Io."

Wolverine raised an eyebrow "Io?"

"It's a moon…one of Jupiter's."

Wolverine finished his first beer, and took a puff of his cigar. He let the smoke out of his mouth as he spoke. "That's a bit old to be playing spy. Especially someone as untrained as you."

Micki dropped her empty bottle off of the cliff and watched it fall. "I was raised to be a grunt. That's why they cultivated strength in me." She pulled out another beer, and handed it to Wolverine before taking one out for herself. "I was never meant for espionage." She looked up at Wolverine, who was trying not to seem disappointed that he wouldn't get to figure the end out before she told him. "But this is the price you pay when you dissent. I did it for Jen." She looked out over the landscape, studying it instead of thinking about feelings that she'd thought she'd put to rest. "She was my only true friend. The one who looked out for me; she dragged me out of hiding…saw more in me than just muscle. When she lost everything, I couldn't stand to just work, and let her be. I'm paying for that now, as an exile." Wolverine could see that the words meant more than just their face value. "I've been given a job, and am indebted until I finish it." She took a long drink.

Wolverine was skeptical; she was volunteering too much information. "What was the job?"

"Information. My people long ago cultivated and learned to control our gifts from birth. They want to know why humans can't, and why the sudden surge in those who can control them from adolescence. If they get enough genetic information from a person from birth until death, they can learn to design children with new powers. They've learned the basic, common powers. Strength, flight, the elementals…Now they're moving onto more complicated powers. I'm merely here collecting samples, from continuing subjects, as well as new ones."

Wolverine listened as he drank. He knew that what she was saying seemed to add up, but he maintained his skepticism. It explained her sporadic movements, her need for camouflage and her amateurism. It also explained her note-from-Jupiter cover when her friends came. He took a puff of his cigar and let the smoke mingle in his mouth before he spoke. "You said you're an exile…Why would they send you to do this?"

Micki didn't look away from the landscape. She let the wind rustle her clothes and hair as she thought. She always seemed to understand the reasons for her to continue to work for her people, but she never thought about having to articulate them. "It's an honor. I've betrayed my people, and the only way to repay them is whatever task they give me. It shows that they care for me, and that I am still loyal."

Wolverine snorted, he wasn't buying the reasoning. "Loyalty to people who aren't loyal to you?"

The icy glare that she returned him made him wonder if she was telling the truth. "I forgot; you're too rebellious to understand loyalty to a society. I betrayed them, not the other way around." Wolverine was able to see her look soften a bit before she looked back out over the cliff. "You can think of it as a programmed response, if it makes it any easier."

"Programmed response?" Wolverine was starting to understand that, although her people paralleled some of Earth's, they were definitely an alien culture. A culture with technology that surpassed that of Earth, if they were already 'cultivating' powers in their subjects.

"A failsafe. We were raised not to be rebellious, to think for ourselves but accept authority. Any rebels were to be marked and silenced. Reprogrammed to do a job, and then strike it out in whatever world they were sent on their own." She reached up and touched her ears. "I was only marked. My betrayal was only minor, so my memories remain. That's why they sent me for this mission. My target was too high risk for them to remove all provenience."

Wolverine's mind reeled a little more each time she mentioned memory loss or reprogramming. He maintained his composure, but her story seemed to have similarities to his own. She could possibly hold they key to his memories. Chuck couldn't reach far enough into Wolverine's shut-down mind to reach them, but something was being triggered. Maybe, if he could keep her talking, she might say a phrase, anything, that would bring his past into the light. Once she stopped talking, though, his mind stopped. He couldn't think of a single question. He half expected one of his few memories to shoot through his mind, but nothing came.

She looked at him curiously, as she idly dropped another bottle. "That's why I'm here. That's why I've been sneaking around. Isn't that what you wanted to know? That none of the students here are in danger…That I'm not some part of some diabolical plot for global, or universal domination?"

It all snapped into place, then. "You're not the concern. I haven't got a brain for politics, but I know that an advanced alien group with technology better 'n ours and the ability to manipulate mutant powers ain't exactly a good unknown."

Micki nodded. "That's true. If it's any comfort, as one of their subjects, I know the leaders are peaceful. They maintain these defenses, and all technology behind the façade of a primitive nature-based culture. Elves are not the rural immortals we portray ourselves as. We are not immune to the pulls of time, and neither are we timeless. The only tradition the elves may carry is that other races do not know that we are more advanced. It's the only way to maintain peace. You, Wolverine, may very well now be the only human alive to know that. "

"Comforting." The buzz of his fourth beer was setting in. It was only slight buzz, but it made the information she was feeding him easier to take. He had no idea that his hunt would take him this far down the rabbit hole. The more she went on, the more he could feel that she was telling the truth. Every one of his senses told him so. He could see that as she drank more, she talked more. So, 'Elves' weren't Santa's little helpers, but a technologically advanced race that was capable of blowing every other out of the universe. Nice. This situation called for more beer. Wolverine helped himself to another serving.

She had the curious look on her face again. "Aren't you wondering why I'm volunteering all this information?"

Wolverine didn't look too surprised that she asked that. "I saved your life. You owe me."

A fleeting smile flashed. "I guess I'm much more of an amateur than I thought. I didn't realize I was so transparent."

Wolverine shrugged. "Just gotta learn when to shut your trap." His cigar was finally done; he flicked it over the side.

She cocked her head to the side and gazed back out over the view. They sat like that for a while. Micki, enjoying Earth's exotic beauty, and Wolverine mulling over all the new information she had given him.

The silence was broken when Micki reached into the cooler for another beer. When she found not one of the 12 bottles she'd bought were left, she pushed the cooler back, and chewed contemplatively on an ice cube.

He ignored the obnoxious crunching and briefly considered standing. He was given pause by the peace of the moment. The setting sun was blinding in its last attempt to light the night sky, his quarry fearlessly sitting beside him. He'd won. He had the answers, but he still felt unsettled. Something wasn't quite right. He looked over at the woman. She had considered an earlier betrayal such a huge ordeal, but seemed to have no qualms about telling him the best-kept secrets of her people.

Micki looked over and mistook his look. She sidled up next to him and looked at him through challenging jade eyes. "You've made this much more fun than it was meant to be."

Wolverine did not back down to a challenge. He leaned towards her, and she towards him. Their kiss was less an action of tenderness, and more a meeting of unyielding forces. What the kissed lacked in tenderness, it made up for in passion. Neither Micki nor Wolverine kissed out of care for the other, but a selfish need for dominance. Wolverine felt her hands on his biceps, one holding what must have been a beer bottle. He pushed thoughts out of his mind. A mere matter of moments and the kiss was over. They each broke away and were both left feeling unsatisfied.

She wasted no time, stood and picked up the cooler. Wolverine looked back over the view, and lit a cigar. He took a puff as she walked back to the mansion alone.


End file.
